Detection of nucleotide variation on target nucleic acid sequence by pto cleavage and extension assay

ABSTRACT

The present invention is generally drawn to a novel method and a kit for detecting nucleotide variations by a PTOCE (PTO Cleavage and Extension) assay with PTO-NV. Furthermore, the present invention is directed to a novel method and a kit for detecting a nucleotide variation on a target nucleic acid sequence by a PTOCE assay with PTO-NV having a non-base paring moiety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to the detection of a nucleotide variation on a target nucleic acid sequence by a PTOCE (PTO Cleavage and Extension) assay.

2. Description of the Related Art

DNA hybridization is a fundamental process in molecular biology and is affected by ionic strength, base composition, length of fragment to which the nucleic acid has been reduced, the degree of mismatching, and the presence of denaturing agents. DNA hybridization-based technologies would be a very useful tool in specific nucleic acid sequence determination and clearly be valuable in clinical diagnosis, genetic research, and forensic laboratory analysis.

However, the conventional methods and processes depending mostly on hybridization are very likely to produce false positive results due to non-specific hybridization between probes and non-target sequences. Therefore, there remain problems to be solved for improving their reliability.

Besides probe hybridization processes, several approaches using additional enzymatic reactions, for example, TaqMan™ probe method, have been suggested.

In TaqMan™ probe method, the labeled probe hybridized with a target nucleic acid sequence is cleaved by a 5′ nuclease activity of an upstream primer-dependent DNA polymerase, generating a signal indicating the presence of a target sequence (U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,210,015, 5,538,848 and 6,326,145). The TaqMan™ probe method suggests two approaches for signal generation: polymerization-dependent cleavage and polymerization-independent cleavage. In polymerization-dependent cleavage, extension of the upstream primer must occur before a nucleic acid polymerase encounters the 5′-end of the labeled probe. As the extension reaction continues, the polymerase progressively cleaves the 5′-end of the labeled probe. In polymerization-independent cleavage, the upstream primer and the labeled probe are hybridized with a target nucleic acid sequence in close proximity such that binding of the nucleic acid polymerase to the 3′-end of the upstream primer puts it in contact with the 5′-end of the labeled probe to release the label. In addition, the TaqMan™ probe method discloses that the labeled probe at its 5′-end having a 5′-tail region not-hybridizable with a target sequence is also cleaved to form a fragment comprising the 5′-tail region.

There have been reported some methods in which a probe having a 5′-tail region non-complementary to a target sequence is cleaved by 5′ nuclease to release a fragment comprising the 5′-tail region.

For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 5,691,142 discloses a cleavage structure to be digested by 5′ nuclease activity of DNA polymerase. The cleavage structure is exemplified in which an oligonucleotide comprising a 5′ portion non-complementary to and a 3′ portion complementary to a template is hybridized with the template and an upstream oligonucleotide is hybridized with the template in close proximity. The cleavage structure is cleaved by DNA polymerase having 5′ nuclease activity or modified DNA polymerase with reduced synthetic activity to release the 5′ portion non-complementary to the template. The released 5′ portion is then hybridized with an oligonucleotide having a hairpin structure to form a cleavage structure, thereby inducing progressive cleavage reactions to detect a target sequence.

U.S. Pat. No. 7,381,532 discloses a process in which the cleavage structure having the upstream oligonucleotide with blocked 3′-end is cleaved by DNA polymerase having 5′ nuclease activity or FEN nuclease to release non-complementary 5′ flap region and the released 5′ flap region is detected by size analysis or interactive dual label. U.S. Pat. No. 6,893,819 discloses that detectable released flaps are produced by a nucleic acid synthesis dependent, flap-mediated sequential amplification method. In this method, a released flap from a first cleavage structure cleaves, in a nucleic acid synthesis dependent manner, a second cleavage structure to release a flap from the second cleavage structure and the release flaps are detected. U.S. Pat. No. 7,309,573 disclose a method including formation of a released flap produced by a nucleic acid synthesis; extension of the released flap; cleavage of an oligonucleotide during extension of the flap and detection of a signal generated by the cleavage of the oligonucleotide.

By hybridization of fluorescence-labeled probes in a liquid phase, a plurality of target nucleic acid sequences may be simultaneously detected using even a single type of a fluorescent label by melting curve analysis. However, the conventional technologies for detection of target sequences by 5′ nuclease-mediated cleavage of interactive-dual labeled probes require different types of fluorescent labels for different target sequences in multiplex target detection, which limits the number of target sequences to be detected due to limitation of the number of types of fluorescent labels.

U.S. Pat. Appln. Pub. 2008-0241838 discloses a target detection method using cleavage of a probe having a 5′ portion non-complementary to a target nucleic acid sequence and hybridization of a capture probe. A label is positioned on the non-complementary 5′ portion. The labeled probe hybridized with the target sequence is cleaved to release a fragment, after which the fragment is then hybridized with the capture probe to detect the presence of the target sequence. In this method, it is necessary that an uncleaved/intact probe is not hybridized with the capture probe. For that, the capture probe having a shorter length has to be immobilized onto a solid substrate. However, such a limitation results in lower efficiency of hybridization on a solid substrate and also in difficulties in optimization of reaction conditions.

Therefore, there remain long-felt needs in the art to develop novel approaches for detection of a target sequence, preferably multiple target sequences, in a liquid phase and on a solid phase by not only hybridization but also enzymatic reactions such as 5′ nucleolytic reaction in a more convenient, reliable and reproducible manner. Furthermore, a novel target detection method not limited by the number of types of labels (particularly, fluorescent labels) is also needed in the art.

In the meantime, nucleotide variations are important in the research and clinical fields. Of them, single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are most commonly found in a human genome and serve as markers for disease-related loci and pharmacogenetics (Landegren et al., 1998; Roses, 2000). SNPs are found at the rate of approximately 1 per 1000 bp in a human genome and their total number is estimated about three millions. For the detection of nucleotide variations such as SNP, deletion, insertion and translocation, various allelic discrimination technologies have been reported.

The allele-specific TaqMan probe is designed such that it is hybridized only with perfectly matched target sequences in extension step of PCR. The TaqMan probe has a reporter molecule and a quencher molecule capable of quenching the fluorescent signal from the reporter molecule. The TaqMan probe hybridized with target sequences is digested by 5′ nuclease activity of Taq DNA polymerase and the reporter molecule and the quencher molecule are separated to generate a target signal. For allelic discrimination, 13-20 mer probes conjugated with minor groove binder (MGB) are used (Livak, et al., Genet. Anal. 14:143-149(1999)). Since the allelic discrimination method using the TaqMan probe employs not only hybridization reaction but also enzymatic reactions of 5′ nuclease activity, its specificity is enhanced. However, the method has serious troublesome such as difficulties in allelic-specific probe design and optimized reaction conditions which have to discriminate difference by one mismatch. In addition, the conjugate with MGB is one of troubleshootings in the allele-specific TaqMan probe.

Therefore, there remain long-felt needs in the art to develop novel approaches for detection of a nucleotide variation in a more convenient, reliable and reproducible manner, which is capable of being free from shortcomings of the conventional technologies.

Throughout this application, various patents and publications are referenced and citations are provided in parentheses. The disclosure of these patents and publications in their entities are hereby incorporated by references into this application in order to more fully describe this invention and the state of the art to which this invention pertains.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present inventors have made intensive researches to develop novel approaches to detect target sequences with more improved accuracy and convenience, inter alia, in a multiplex manner. As a result, we have established novel protocols for detection of target sequences, in which target detection is accomplished by probe hybridization, enzymatic probe cleavage, extension and detection of an extended duplex. The present protocols are well adopted to liquid phase reactions as well as solid phase reactions, and ensure detection of multiple target sequences with more improved accuracy and convenience.

Furthermore, the present inventors have made intensive researches to develop novel approaches to detect nucleotide variations with more improved accuracy and convenience, inter alia, in a multiplex manner. As a result, we have established novel protocols for detection of nucleotide variations, in which nucleotide variation detection is accomplished by probe hybridization, enzymatic probe cleavage, extension and detection of an extended strand. Particularly, we intriguingly have rendered the probe cleavage site to be adjustable depending on the presence and absence of nucleotide variations of interest and the fragments released by cleavage in different sites are distinguished by their extension capabilities on an artificial template. The present protocols are well adopted to liquid phase reactions as well as solid phase reactions, and ensure detection of multiple nucleotide variations with more improved accuracy and convenience.

Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide a method for detecting a target nucleic acid sequence from a DNA or a mixture of nucleic acids by a PTOCE (PTO Cleavage and Extension) assay.

It is another object of this invention to provide a method for detecting a nucleotide variation on a target nucleic acid sequence by a PTOCE (PTO Cleavage and Extension) assay.

It is still another object of this invention to provide a kit for detecting a target nucleic acid sequence from a DNA or a mixture of nucleic acids by a PTOCE (PTO Cleavage and Extension) assay.

It is further object of this invention to provide a kit for detecting a nucleotide variation on a target nucleic acid sequence by a PTOCE (PTO Cleavage and Extension) assay.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description to follow taken in conjugation with the appended claims and drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows the schematic structures of PTO (Probing and Tagging Oligonucleotide) and CTO (Capturing and Templating Oligonucleotide) used in PTO cleavage and extension assay (PTOCE assay). Preferably, the 3′-ends of the PTO and CTO are blocked to prohibit their extension.

FIG. 2 represents schematically PTOCE assay comprising melting analysis. CTO has a reporter molecule and a quencher molecule at its templating portion.

FIG. 3 represents schematically PTOCE assay comprising melting analysis. CTO has a reporter molecule at its templating portion. The reporter molecule is required to show different signal intensity depending on its presence on a single-stranded form or a double-stranded form.

FIG. 4 represents schematically PTOCE assay comprising melting analysis. CTO has an iso-dC residue and a reporter molecule at its templating portion. Quencher-iso-dGTP is incorporated into the extended duplex during extension reaction.

FIG. 5 represents schematically PTOCE assay comprising melting analysis. PTO has a reporter molecule at its 5′-tagging portion and CTO has an iso-dC residue at its templating portion. Quencher-iso-dGTP is incorporated into the extended duplex during extension reaction.

FIG. 6 represents schematically PTOCE assay comprising melting analysis. PTO has a reporter molecule and a quencher molecule at its 5′-tagging portion.

FIG. 7 represents schematically PTOCE assay comprising melting analysis. PTO has a reporter molecule at its 5′-tagging portion. The reporter molecule is required to show different signal intensity depending on its presence on a single-stranded form or a double-stranded form.

FIG. 8 represents schematically PTOCE assay comprising melting analysis. PTO has a quencher molecule at its 5′-tagging portion and CTO has a reporter molecule at its capturing portion.

FIG. 9 represents schematically PTOCE assay comprising detection at a pre-determined temperature. CTO has a reporter molecule and a quencher molecule at its templating portion. CTO is immobilized on a solid substrate through its 3′-end.

FIG. 10 represents schematically PTOCE assay comprising detection at a pre-determined temperature. A reporter-labeled dATP is incorporated into the extended duplex during extension reaction. CTO is immobilized on a solid substrate through its 3′-end.

FIG. 11 represents schematically PTOCE assay comprising detection at a pre-determined temperature. CTO has an iso-dC residue at its templating portion and a reporter-iso-dGTP is incorporated into the extended duplex during extension reaction. CTO is immobilized on a solid substrate through its 3′-end.

FIG. 12 represents schematically PTOCE assay comprising detection at a pre-determined temperature. PTO has a reporter molecule at its 5′-tagging portion. CTO is immobilized on a solid substrate through its 5′-end.

FIG. 13 represents schematically PTOCE assay comprising detection at a pre-determined temperature with an intercalating dye. CTO is immobilized on a solid substrate through its 5′-end.

FIG. 14 shows the results of the detection of Neisseria gonorrhoeae gene by PTOCE assay comprising melting analysis. CTO has a reporter molecule and a quencher molecule at its templating portion.

FIG. 15 shows the results of the detection of Neisseria gonorrhoeae gene by PTOCE assay comprising melting analysis. PTO has a quencher molecule at its 5′-end and CTO has a reporter molecule at its 3′-end.

FIG. 16 shows the results that Tm values of extended duplexes are adjusted by CTO sequences.

FIG. 17 shows the results of the detection of Neisseria gonorrhoeae gene by PTOCE assay with PCR amplification. CTO has a reporter molecule and a quencher molecule at its templating portion. FIG. 17A shows the results of PTOCE assay comprising real-time PCR detection and FIG. 17B shows the results of PTOCE assay comprising post-PCR melting analysis.

FIG. 18 shows the results of the detection of Neisseria gonorrhoeae gene by PTOCE assay with PCR amplification. CTO has an iso-dC residue and a reporter molecule at its 5′-end. Quencher-iso-dGTP is incorporated into the extended duplex during extension reaction. FIG. 18A shows the results of PTOCE assay comprising real-time PCR detection and FIG. 18B shows the results of PTOCE assay comprising post-PCR melting analysis.

FIG. 19 shows the results of the detection of Neisseria gonorrhoeae gene by PTOCE assay with PCR amplification. PTO has a quencher molecule at its 5′-end and CTO has a reporter molecule at its 3′-end. FIG. 19A shows the results of PTOCE assay comprising real-time PCR detection and FIG. 19B show the results of PTOCE assay comprising post-PCR melting analysis.

FIG. 20 shows the results of the simultaneous detection of Neisseria gonorrhoeae (NG) gene and Staphylococcus aureus (SA) gene by PTOCE assay comprising post-PCR melting analysis. CTO has a reporter molecule and a quencher molecule at its templating portion.

FIG. 21 shows the results of the detection of Neisseria gonorrhoeae gene by PTOCE assay comprising melting analysis on microarray. CTO is immobilized through its 5′-end. PTO has a reporter molecule at its 5′-tagging portion.

FIG. 22 shows the results of the detection of Neisseria gonorrhoeae gene by PTOCE assay comprising real-time detection at a pre-determined temperature on microarray. CTO is immobilized through its 5′-end. PTO has a reporter molecule at its 5′-tagging portion.

FIG. 23 shows the results of the detection of Neisseria gonorrhoeae gene by PTOCE assay comprising real-time detection at a pre-determined temperature on microarray. CTO is immobilized through its 3′-end and has a reporter molecule and a quencher molecule at its templating portion.

FIG. 24 shows the results of the single or multiple target detection by PTOCE assay comprising end point detection at a pre-determined temperature on microarray. CTO is immobilized through its 5′-end. PTO has a reporter molecule at its 5′-tagging portion. Neisseria gonorrhoeae (NG) gene and Staphylococcus aureus (SA) gene were used as target nucleic acid sequences.

FIG. 25 schematically represents a PTOCE assay for detection of nucleotide variations. This application is named as VD-PTOCE (Variation Detection by PTO Cleavage and Extension) assay. The nucleotide variation discrimination site is positioned at the 5′-end of the 5′-end part of the 3′-targeting portion. The determination of the presence of the nucleotide variation is made by detecting the presence of the extended strand. The cleavage sites are different depending on the presence and absence of the nucleotide variation of interest.

FIG. 26 schematically represents an example of the VD-PTOCE assay. The nucleotide variation discrimination site is positioned at 1 nucleotide apart from the 5′-end of the 5′-end part of the 3′-targeting portion.

FIG. 27 schematically represents an example of the VD-PTOCE assay. The artificial mismatch nucleotide as non-base pairing moiety is introduced into the 5′-end part of the 3′-targeting portion. The non-base pairing moiety widens the distance between the first initial cleavage site and the second initial cleavage site.

FIG. 28 schematically represents an example of the VD-PTOCE assay. The nucleotide variation discrimination site is positioned at the 5′-end of the 5′-end part of the 3′-targeting portion. The CTO has a reporter molecule and a quencher molecule at its templating portion for generating signals.

FIG. 29 schematically represents an example of the VD-PTOCE assay comprising a melting analysis. The nucleotide variation discrimination site is positioned at 1 nucleotide apart from the 5′-end of the 5′-end part of the 3′-targeting portion. The CTO has a reporter molecule and a quencher molecule at its templating portion for generating signals.

FIG. 30 schematically represents an example of the VD-PTOCE assay comprising a melting analysis. The artificial mismatch nucleotide as non-base pairing moiety is introduced into the 5′-end part of the 3′-targeting portion. The CTO has a reporter molecule and a quencher molecule at its templating portion for generating signals.

FIG. 31 schematically represents an example of the VD-PTOCE assay comprising detection at a pre-determined temperature on a microarray. The signal from a single fluorescent label is detected at a pre-determined temperature.

FIG. 32 schematically represents an example of the VD-PTOCE assay comprising detection at a pre-determined temperature on a microarray. A reporter-labeled ddUTP is incorporated into the extended strand during extension reaction. The signal from the reporter is detected at a pre-determined temperature.

FIG. 33 shows the results of the detection of V600E mutation of the BRAF gene by the VD-PTOCE assay. Four different types of PTO-NVs were examined with variation of location of the single nucleotide variation discrimination site in the 5′-end part of 3′-targeting portion.

FIG. 34 shows the results of the detection of V600E mutation of the BRAF gene by the VD-PTOCE assay with PTO-NV having an artificial mismatch nucleotide as a non-base pairing moiety. The single nucleotide variation discrimination site is located at the fourth nucleotide from the 5′-end of 3′-targeting portion. One PTO-NV having no artificial mismatch and three types of PTO-NVs having an artificial mismatch nucleotide as a non-base paring moiety were examined.

FIG. 35 shows the results of the detection of Neisseria gonorrhoeae gene by to PTOCE assay using upstream oligonucleotide-independent 5′ nuclease activity. FIG. 35A shows the results of PTOCE assay comprising real-time detection at a pre-determined temperature without using an upstream oligonucleotide and FIG. 35B shows the results of PTOCE assay comprising melting analysis without using an upstream oligonucleotide.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THIS INVENTION

The present invention is generally drawn to a novel method for detecting a nucleic acid sequence by a PTOCE (PTO Cleavage and Extension) assay. In particular, the present invention is directed to a novel method for detecting a nucleotide variation on a target nucleic acid sequence by a PTOCE (PTO Cleavage and Extension) assay and a kit for detecting a nucleotide variation by a PTOCE assay.

The present invention for detection of a nucleotide variation is based on cleavage of the PTO and extension of the PTO fragment on the CTO as the PTOCE assay; therefore, its detailed description will be described after descriptions of the PTOCE assay. For better understanding, the PTOCE assay will be described as follows:

I. Target Detection Process by PTOCE Comprising Melting Analysis

In one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for detecting a target nucleic acid sequence from a DNA or a mixture of nucleic acids by a PTOCE (PTO Cleavage and Extension) assay, comprising:

-   -   (a) hybridizing the target nucleic acid sequence with an         upstream oligonucleotide and a PTO (Probing and Tagging         Oligonucleotide); wherein the upstream oligonucleotide comprises         a hybridizing nucleotide sequence complementary to the target         nucleic acid sequence; the PTO comprises (i) a 3′-targeting         portion comprising a hybridizing nucleotide sequence         complementary to the target nucleic acid sequence and (ii) a         5′-tagging portion comprising a nucleotide sequence         non-complementary to the target nucleic acid sequence; wherein         the 3′-targeting portion is hybridized with the target nucleic         acid sequence and the 5′-tagging portion is not hybridized with         the target nucleic acid sequence; the upstream oligonucleotide         is located upstream of the PTO;     -   (b) contacting the resultant of the step (a) to an enzyme having         a 5′ nuclease activity under conditions for cleavage of the PTO;         wherein the upstream oligonucleotide or its extended strand         induces cleavage of the PTO by the enzyme having the 5′ nuclease         activity such that the cleavage releases a fragment comprising         the 5′-tagging portion or a part of the 5′-tagging portion of         the PTO;     -   (c) hybridizing the fragment released from the PTO with a CTO         (Capturing and Templating Oligonucleotide); wherein the CTO         comprises in a 3′ to 5′ direction (i) a capturing portion         comprising a nucleotide sequence complementary to the 5′-tagging         portion or a part of the 5′-tagging portion of the PTO and (ii)         a templating portion comprising a nucleotide sequence         non-complementary to the 5′-tagging portion and the 3′-targeting         portion of the PTO; wherein the fragment released from the PTO         is hybridized with the capturing portion of the CTO;     -   (d) performing an extension reaction using the resultant of the         step (c) and a template-dependent nucleic acid polymerase;         wherein the fragment hybridized with the capturing portion of         the CTO is extended and an extended duplex is formed; wherein         the extended duplex has a T_(m) value adjustable by (i) a         sequence and/or length of the fragment, (ii) a sequence and/or         length of the CTO or (iii) the sequence and/or length of the         fragment and the sequence and/or length of the CTO;     -   (e) melting the extended duplex over a range of temperatures to         give a target signal indicative of the presence of the extended         duplex; wherein the target signal is provided by (i) at least         one label linked to the fragment and/or the CTO, (ii) a label         incorporated into the extended duplex during the extension         reaction, (iii) a label incorporated into the extended duplex         during the extension reaction and a label linked to the fragment         and/or the CTO, or (iv) an intercalating label; and     -   (f) detecting the extended duplex by measuring the target         signal; whereby the presence of the extended duplex indicates         the presence of the target nucleic acid sequence.

The present inventors have made intensive researches to develop novel approaches to detect target sequences with more improved accuracy and convenience, inter alia, in a multiplex manner. As a result, we have established novel protocols for detection of target sequences, in which target detection is accomplished by probe hybridization, enzymatic probe cleavage, extension and detection of an extended duplex. The present protocols are well adopted to liquid phase reactions as well as solid phase reactions, and ensure detection of multiple target sequences with more improved accuracy and convenience.

The present invention employs successive events followed by probe hybridization; cleavage of PTO (Probing and Tagging Oligonucleotide) and extension; formation of a target-dependent extended duplex; and detection of the extended duplex. Therefore, it is named as a PTOCE (PTO Cleavage and Extension) assay.

In the present invention, the extended duplex is characterized to have a label(s) providing a signal indicating the presence of the extended duplex by melting analysis or by detection at a pre-determined temperature. Furthermore, the extended duplex is characterized to have an adjustable T_(m) value, which plays a critical role in multiple target detection or discrimination from non-target signal.

As the extended duplex is produced only if the target nucleic acid exists, the presence of the extended duplex indicates the presence of the target nucleic acid.

The PTOCE assay comprising melting analysis will be described in more detail as follows:

Step (a): Hybridization of an Upstream Oligonucleotide and a PTO with a Target Nucleic Acid Sequence

According to the present invention, a target nucleic acid sequence is first hybridized with an upstream oligonucleotide and a PTO (Probing and Tagging Oligonucleotide).

The term used herein “target nucleic acid”, “target nucleic acid sequence” or “target sequence” refers to a nucleic acid sequence of interest for detection, which is annealed to or hybridized with a probe or primer under hybridization, annealing or amplifying conditions.

The term used herein “probe” refers to a single-stranded nucleic acid molecule comprising a portion or portions that are substantially complementary to a target nucleic acid sequence.

The term “primer” as used herein refers to an oligonucleotide, which is capable of acting as a point of initiation of synthesis when placed under conditions in which synthesis of primer extension product which is complementary to a nucleic acid strand (template) is induced, i.e., in the presence of nucleotides and an agent for polymerization, such as DNA polymerase, and at a suitable temperature and pH.

Preferably, the probe and primer are single-stranded deoxyribonucleotide molecules. The probes or primers used in this invention may be comprised of naturally occurring dNMP (i.e., dAMP, dGM, dCMP and dTMP), modified nucleotide, or non-natural nucleotide. The probes or primers may also include ribonucleotides.

The primer must be sufficiently long to prime the synthesis of extension products in the presence of the agent for polymerization. The exact length of the primers will depend on many factors, including temperature, application, and source of primer. The term “annealing” or “priming” as used herein refers to the apposition of an oligodeoxynucleotide or nucleic acid to a template nucleic acid, whereby the apposition enables the polymerase to polymerize nucleotides into a nucleic acid molecule which is complementary to the template nucleic acid or a portion thereof.

The term used “hybridizing” used herein refers to the formation of a double-stranded nucleic acid from complementary single stranded nucleic acids. The hybridization may occur between two nucleic acid strands perfectly matched or substantially matched with some mismatches. The complementarity for hybridization may depend on hybridization conditions, particularly temperature.

The hybridization of a target nucleic acid sequence with the upstream oligonucleotide and the PTO may be carried out under suitable hybridization conditions routinely determined by optimization procedures. Conditions such as temperature, concentration of components, hybridization and washing times, buffer components, and their pH and ionic strength may be varied depending on various factors, including the length and GC content of oligonucleotide (upstream oligonucleotide and PTO) and the target nucleotide sequence. For instance, when a relatively short oligonucleotide is used, it is preferable that low stringent conditions are adopted. The detailed conditions for hybridization can be found in Joseph Sambrook, et al., Molecular Cloning, A Laboratory Manual, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y. (2001); and M. L. M. Anderson, Nucleic Acid Hybridization, Springer-Verlag New York Inc. N.Y. (1999).

There is no intended distinction between the terms “annealing” and “hybridizing”, and these terms will be used interchangeably.

The upstream oligonucleotide and PTO have hybridizing nucleotide sequences complementary to the target nucleic acid sequence. The term “complementary” is used herein to mean that primers or probes are sufficiently complementary to hybridize selectively to a target nucleic acid sequence under the designated annealing conditions or stringent conditions, encompassing the terms “substantially complementary” and “perfectly complementary”, preferably perfectly complementary.

The 5′-tagging portion of the PTO has a nucleotide sequence non-complementary to the target nucleic acid sequence. The templating portion of the CTO (Capturing and Templating Oligonucleotide) has a nucleotide sequence non-complementary to the 5′-tagging portion and the 3′-targeting portion of the PTO. The term “non-complementary” is used herein to mean that primers or probes are sufficiently non-complementary not to hybridize selectively to a target nucleic acid sequence under the designated annealing conditions or stringent conditions, encompassing the terms “substantially non-complementary” and “perfectly non-complementary”, preferably perfectly non-complementary.

For example, the term “non-complementary” in conjunction with the 5′-tagging portion of the PTO means that the 5′-tagging portion is sufficiently non-complementary not to hybridize selectively to a target nucleic acid sequence under the designated annealing conditions or stringent conditions, encompassing the terms “substantially non-complementary” and “perfectly non-complementary”, preferably perfectly non-complementary.

The term used herein “PTO (Probing and Tagging Oligonucleotide)” means an oligonucleotide comprising (i) a 3′-targeting portion serving as a probe and (ii) a 5′-tagging portion with a nucleotide sequence non-complementary to the target nucleic acid sequence, which is nucleolytically released from the PTO after hybridization with the target nucleic acid sequence. The 5′-tagging portion and the 3′-targeting portion in the PTO have to be positioned in a 5′ to 3′ order. The PTO is schematically illustrated in FIG. 1.

Preferably, the hybridization in step (a) is preformed under stringent conditions that the 3′-targeting portion is hybridized with the target nucleic acid sequence and the 5′-tagging portion is not hybridized with the target nucleic acid sequence.

The PTO does not require any specific lengths. For example, the length of the PTO may be 15-150 nucleotides, 15-100 nucleotides, 15-80 nucleotides, 15-60 nucleotides, 15-40 nucleotides, 20-150 nucleotides, 20-100 nucleotides, 20-80 nucleotides, 20-60 nucleotides, 20-50 nucleotides, 30-150 nucleotides, 30-100 nucleotides, 30-80 nucleotides, 30-60 nucleotides, 30-50 nucleotides, 35-100 nucleotides, 35-80 nucleotides, 35-60 nucleotides, or 35-50 nucleotides. The 3′-targeting portion of the PTO may be in any lengths, so long as it is specifically hybridized with target nucleic acid sequences. For example, the 3′-targeting portion of the PTO may be 10-100 nucleotides, 10-80 nucleotides, 10-50 nucleotides, 10-40 nucleotides, 10-30 nucleotides, 15-100 nucleotides, 15-80 nucleotides, 15-50 nucleotides, 15-40 nucleotides, 15-30 nucleotides, 20-100 nucleotides, 20-80 nucleotides, 20-50 nucleotides, 20-40 nucleotides or 20-30 nucleotides in length. The 5′-tagging portion may be in any lengths so long as it is specifically hybridized with the templating portion of the CTO and then extended. For instance, the 5′-tagging portion of the PTO may be 5-50 nucleotides, 5-40 nucleotides, 5-30 nucleotides, 5-20 nucleotides, 10-50 nucleotides, 10-40 nucleotides, 10-30 nucleotides, 10-20 nucleotides, 15-50 nucleotides, 15-40 nucleotides, 15-30 nucleotides or 15-20 nucleotides in length.

The 3′-end of the PTO may have a 3′-OH terminal. Preferably, the 3′-end of the PTO is “blocked” to prohibit its extension.

The blocking may be achieved in accordance with conventional methods. For instance, the blocking may be performed by adding to the 3′-hydroxyl group of the last nucleotide a chemical moiety such as biotin, labels, a phosphate group, alkyl group, non-nucleotide linker, phosphorothioate or alkane-diol. Alternatively, the blocking may be carried out by removing the 3′-hydroxyl group of the last nucleotide or using a nucleotide with no 3′-hydroxyl group such as dideoxynucleotide.

Alternatively, the PTO may be designed to have a hairpin structure.

The non-hybridization between the 5′-tagging portion of the PTO and the target nucleic acid sequence refers to non-formation of a stable double-strand between them under certain hybridization conditions. According to a preferred embodiment, the 5′-tagging portion of the PTO not involved in the hybridization with the target nucleic acid sequence forms a single-strand.

The upstream oligonucleotide is located upstream of the PTO.

In addition, the upstream oligonucleotide or its extended strand hybridized with the target nucleic acid sequence induces cleavage of the PTO by an enzyme having a 5′ nuclease activity.

The induction of the PTO cleavage by the upstream oligonucleotide may be accomplished by two fashions: (i) upstream oligonucleotide extension-independent cleavage induction; and (ii) upstream oligonucleotide extension-dependent cleavage induction.

Where the upstream oligonucleotide is positioned adjacently to the PTO sufficient to induce the PTO cleavage by an enzyme having a 5′ nuclease activity, the enzyme bound to the upstream oligonucleotide digests the PTO with no extension reaction. In contrast, where the upstream oligonucleotide is positioned distantly to the PTO, an enzyme having a polymerase activity (e.g., template-dependent polymerase) catalyzes extension of the upstream oligonucleotide (e.g., upstream primer) and an enzyme having a 5′ nuclease activity bound to the extended product digests the PTO.

Therefore, the upstream oligonucleotide may be located relatively to the PTO in two fashions. The upstream oligonucleotide may be located adjacently to the PTO sufficient to induce the PTO cleavage in an extension-independent manner. Alternatively, the upstream oligonucleotide may be located distantly to the PTO sufficient to induce the PTO cleavage in an extension-dependent manner.

The term used herein “adjacent” with referring to positions or locations means that the upstream oligonucleotide is located adjacently to the 3′-targeting portion of the PTO to form a nick. Also, the term means that the upstream oligonucleotide is located 1-30 nucleotides, 1-20 nucleotides or 1-15 nucleotides apart from the 3′-targeting portion of the PTO.

The term used herein “distant” with referring to positions or locations includes any positions or locations sufficient to ensure extension reactions.

According to a preferred embodiment, the upstream oligonucleotide is located distantly to the PTO sufficient to induce the PTO cleavage in an extension-dependent manner.

According to a preferred embodiment, the upstream oligonucleotide is an upstream primer or an upstream probe. The upstream primer is suitable in an extension-independent cleavage induction or an extension-dependent cleavage, and the upstream probe is suitable in an extension-independent cleavage induction.

Alternatively, the upstream oligonucleotide may have a partial-overlapped sequence with the 5′-part of the 3′-targeting portion of the PTO. Preferably, the overlapped sequence is 1-10 nucleotides, more preferably 1-5 nucleotides, still more preferably 1-3 nucleotides in length. Where the upstream oligonucleotide has a partial-overlapped sequence with the 5′-part of the 3′-targeting portion of the PTO, the 3′-targeting portion is partially digested along with the 5′-taggging portion in the cleavage reaction of the step (b). In addition, the overlapped sequence permits to cleave a desired site of the 3′-targeting portion.

According to a preferred embodiment, the upstream primer induces through its extended strand the cleavage of the PTO by the enzyme having the 5′ nuclease activity.

The conventional technologies for cleavage reactions by upstream oligonucleotides may be applied to the present invention, so long as the upstream oligonucleotide induces cleavage of the PTO hybridized with the target nucleic acid sequence to release a fragment comprising the 5′-tagging portion or a part of the 5′-tagging portion of the PTO. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,210,015, 5,487,972, 5,691,142, 5,994,069 and 7,381,532 and U.S. Appln. Pub. No. 2008-0241838 may be applied to the present invention.

According to a preferred embodiment, the method is performed in the presence of a downstream primer. The downstream primer generates additionally a target nucleic acid sequence to be hybridized with the PTO, enhancing sensitivity in a target detection.

According to a preferred embodiment, when the upstream primer and the downstream primer are used, a template-dependent nucleic acid polymerase is additionally employed for extension of the primers.

According to a preferred embodiment, the upstream oligonucleotide (upstream primer or upstream probe), the downstream primer and/or 5′-tagging portion of the PTO have a dual priming oligonucleotide (DPO) structure developed by the present inventor. The oligonucleotides having the DPO structure show significantly improved target specificity compared with conventional primers and probes (see WO 2006/095981; Chun et al., Dual priming oligonucleotide system for the multiplex detection of respiratory viruses and SNP genotyping of CYP2C19 gene, Nucleic Acid Research, 35: 6e40(2007)).

According to a preferred embodiment, the 3′-targeting portion of the PTO has a modified dual specificity oligonucleotide (mDSO) structure developed by the present inventor. The modified dual specificity oligonucleotide (mDSO) structure shows significantly improved target specificity compared with conventional probes (see WO 2011/028041)

Step (b): Release of a Fragment from the PTO

Afterwards, the resultant of the step (a) is contacted to an enzyme having a 5′ nuclease activity under conditions for cleavage of the PTO. The PTO hybridized with the target nucleic acid sequence is digested by the enzyme having the 5′ nuclease activity to release a fragment comprising the 5′-tagging portion or a part of the 5′-tagging portion of the PTO.

The term used herein “conditions for cleavage of the PTO” means conditions sufficient to digest the PTO hybridized with the target nucleic acid sequence by the enzyme having the 5′ nuclease activity, such as temperature, pH, ionic strength, buffer, length and sequence of oligonucleotides and enzymes. For example, when Taq DNA polymerase is used as the enzyme having the 5′ nuclease activity, the conditions for cleavage of the PTO include Tris-HCl buffer, KCl, MgCl₂ and temperature.

When the PTO is hybridized with the target nucleic acid sequence, its 3′-targeting portion is involved in the hybridization and the 5′-tagging portion forms a single-strand with no hybridization with the target nucleic acid sequence (see FIG. 2). As such, an oligonucleotide comprising both single-stranded and double-stranded structures may be digested using an enzyme having a 5′ nuclease activity by a variety of technologies known to one of skill in the art.

The cleavage sites of the PTO are varied depending on the type of upstream oligonucleotides (upstream probe or upstream primer), hybridization sites of upstream oligonucleotides and cleavage conditions (see U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,210,015, 5,487,972, 5,691,142, 5,994,069 and 7,381,532 and U.S. Appln. Pub. No. 2008-0241838).

A multitude of conventional technologies may be employed for the cleavage reaction of the PTO, releasing a fragment comprising the 5′-tagging portion or a part of the 5′-tagging portion.

Briefly, there may be three sites of cleavage in the step (b). Firstly, the cleavage site is a junction site between a hybridization portion of the PTO (3′-targeting portion) and a non-hybridization portion (5′-tagging portion). The second cleavage site is a site located several nucleotides in a 3′-direction apart from the 3′-end of the 5′-tagging portion of the PTO. The second cleavage site is located at the 5′-end part of the 3′-targeting portion of the PTO. The third cleavage site is a site located several nucleotides in a 5′-direction apart from the 3′-end of the 5′-tagging portion of the PTO.

According to a preferred embodiment, the initial site for the cleavage of the PTO by the template-dependent polymerase having the 5′ nuclease activity upon extension of the upstream primer is a starting point of the double strand between the PTO and the target nucleic acid sequence or a site 1-3 nucleotides apart from the starting point.

In this regard, the term used herein “a fragment comprising the 5′-tagging portion or a part of the 5′-tagging portion of the PTO” in conjunction with cleavage of the PTO by the enzyme having the 5′ nuclease activity is used to encompass (i) the 5′-tagging portion, (ii) the 5′-tagging portion and the 5′-end part of the 3′-targeting portion and (iii) a part of the 5′-tagging portion. In this application, the term “a fragment comprising the 5′-tagging portion or a part of the 5′-tagging portion of the PTO” may be also described as “PTO fragment”.

According to an embodiment, the PTO has a blocker portion containing a blocker resistant to cleavage by the enzyme having 5′ nuclease activity and the blocker portion is used to control an initial cleavage site and/or successive cleavages.

According to an embodiment, the PTO has a blocker portion containing as a blocker at least one nucleotide resistant to cleavage by the enzyme having 5′ nuclease activity.

For example, to induce cleavage at the junction site between a hybridization portion of the PTO (3′-targeting portion) and a non-hybridization portion (5′-tagging portion), the 5′-end part of 3′-targeting portion of PTO may be blocked with blockers.

The number of blockers contained in the blocker portion may be not limited, preferably, 1-10, more preferably 2-10, still more preferably 3-8, most preferably 3-6 blockers. The blockers present in the PTO may be in a continuous or intermittent manner, preferably a continuous manner. The nucleotides as blockers with a backbone resistant to the 5′ to 3′ exonuclease activity include any one known to one of skill in the art. For example, it includes various phosphorothioate linkages, phosphonate linkages, phosphoroamidate linkages and 2′-carbohydrates modifications. According to a more preferred embodiment, nucleotides having a backbone resistant to the 5′ to 3′ exonuclease include phosphorothioate linkage, alkyl phosphotriester linkage, aryl phosphotriester linkage, alkyl phosphonate linkage, aryl phosphonate linkage, hydrogen phosphonate linkage, alkyl phosphoroamidate linkage, aryl phosphoroamidate linkage, phosphoroselenate linkage, 2′-O-aminopropyl modification, 2′-O-alkyl modification, 2′-O-allyl modification, 2′-O-butyl modification, α-anomeric oligodeoxynucleotide and 1-(4′-thio-β-D-ribofuranosyl) modification.

According to an embodiment, a nucleotide as a blocker includes LNA (locked nucleic acid).

The term “part” used in conjunction with the PTO or CTO such as the part of the 5′-tagging portion of the PTO, the 5′-end part of the 3′-targeting portion of the PTO and the 5′-end part of the capturing portion of the CTO refers to a nucleotide sequence composed of 1-40, 1-30, 1-20, 1-15, 1-10 or 1-5 nucleotides, preferably 1, 2, 3 or 4 nucleotides.

According to a preferred embodiment, the enzyme having the 5′ nuclease activity is DNA polymerase having a 5′ nuclease activity or FEN nuclease, more preferably a thermostable DNA polymerase having a 5′ nuclease activity or FEN nuclease.

A suitable DNA polymerase having a 5′ nuclease activity in this invention is a thermostable DNA polymerase obtained from a variety of bacterial species, including Thermus aquaticus (Taq), Thermus thermophiles (Tth), Thermus filiformis, Thermis flavus, Thermococcus literalis, Thermus antramkianii, Thermus caldophilus, Thermus chliarophllus, Thermus flavus, Thermus igniterrae, Thermus lacteus, Thermus oshimai, Thermus ruber; Thermus rubens, Thermus scotoductus, Thermus silvanus, Thermus species Z05, Thermus species sps 17, Thermus thermophilus, Thermotoga maritima, Thermotoga neapolitana, Thermosiphoafricanus, Thermococcus litoralis, Thermococcus barossi, Thermococcus gorgonarius, Thermotoga maritima, Thermotoga neapolitana, Thermosiphoafricanus, Pyrococcus woesel; Pyrococcus horikoshii, Pyrococcus abyssi, Pyrodictium occultum, Aquifex pyrophilus and Aquifex aeolieus. Most preferably, the thermostable DNA polymerase is Taq polymerase.

Alternatively, the present invention may employ DNA polymerases having a 5′ nuclease activity modified to have less polymerase activities.

The FEN (flap endonuclease) nuclease used is a 5′ flap-specific nuclease.

The FEN nuclease suitable in the present invention comprises FEN nucleases obtained from a variety of bacterial species, including. Sulfolobus solfataricus, Pyrobaculum aerophilum, Thermococcus litoralis, Archaeaglobus veneficus, Archaeaglobus profundus, Acidianus brierlyi; Acidianus ambivalens, Desulfurococcus amylolyticus, Desulfurococcus mobilis, Pyrodictium brockii, Thermococcus gorgonarius, Thermococcus zilligii, Methanopyrus kandleri, Methanococcus igneus, Pyrococcus horikoshii, Aeropyrum pernix, and Archaeaglobus veneficus.

Where the upstream primer is used in the step (a), it is preferable that the conditions for cleavage of the PTO comprise extension reaction of the upstream primer.

According to a preferred embodiment, the upstream primer is used in the step (a), a template-dependent polymerase is used for extension of the upstream primer and the template-dependent polymerase is identical to the enzyme having the 5′ nuclease activity.

Optionally, the upstream primer is used in the step (a), a template-dependent polymerase is used for extension of the upstream primer and the template-dependent polymerase is different from the enzyme having the 5′ nuclease activity.

Step (c): Hybridization of the Fragment Released from the PTO with CTO

The fragment released from the PTO is hybridized with a CTO (Capturing and Templating Oligonucleotide).

The CTO comprises in a 3′ to 5′ direction (i) a capturing portion comprising a nucleotide sequence complementary to the 5′-tagging portion or a part of the 5′-tagging portion of the PTO and (ii) a templating portion comprising a nucleotide sequence non-complementary to the 5′-tagging portion and the 3′-targeting portion of the PTO.

The CTO is acted as a template for extension of the fragment released from the PTO. The fragment serving as a primer is hybridized with the CTO and extended to form an extended duplex.

The templating portion may comprise any sequence so long as it is non-complementary to the 5′-tagging portion and the 3′-targeting portion of the PTO. Furthermore, the templating portion may comprise any sequence so long as it can be acted as a template for extension of the fragment released from the PTO.

As described above, when the fragment having the 5′-tagging portion of the PTO is released, it is preferred that the capturing portion of the CTO is designed to comprise a nucleotide sequence complementary to the 5′-tagging portion. When the fragment having the 5′-tagging portion and a 5′-end part of the 3′-targeting portion is released, it is preferred that the capturing portion of the CTO is designed to comprise a nucleotide sequence complementary to the 5′-tagging portion and the 5′-end part of the 3′-targeting portion. When the fragment having a part of the 5′-tagging portion of the PTO is released, it is preferred that the capturing portion of the CTO is designed to comprise a nucleotide sequence complementary to the part of the 5′-tagging portion.

Moreover, it is possible to design the capturing portion of the CTO with anticipating cleavage sites of the PTO. For example, where the capturing portion of the CTO is designed to comprise a nucleotide sequence complementary to the 5′-tagging portion, either the fragment having a part of the 5′-tagging portion or the fragment having the 5′-tagging portion can be hybridized with the capturing portion and then extended. Where the fragment comprising the 5′-tagging portion and a 5′-end part of the 3′-targeting portion is released, it may be hybridized with the capturing portion of the CTO designed to comprise a nucleotide sequence complementary to the 5′-tagging portion and then successfully extended although mismatch nucleotides are present at the 3′-end portion of the fragment. That is to because primers can be extended depending on reaction conditions although its 3′-end contains some mismatch nucleotides (e.g. 1-3 mismatch nucleotides).

When the fragment comprising the 5′-tagging portion and a 5′-end part of the 3′-targeting portion is released, the 5′-end part of the capturing portion of the CTO may be designed to have a nucleotide sequence complementary to the cleaved 5′-end part of the 3′-targeting portion, overcoming problems associated with mismatch nucleotides (see FIG. 1).

Preferably, the nucleotide sequence of the 5′-end part of the capturing portion of the CTO complementary to the cleaved 5′-end part of the 3′-targeting portion may be selected depending on anticipated cleavage sites on the 3′-targeting portion of the PTO. It is preferable that the nucleotide sequence of the 5′-end part of the capturing portion of the CTO complementary to the cleaved 5′-end part of the 3′-targeting portion is 1-10 nucleotides, more preferably 1-5 nucleotides, still more preferably 1-3 nucleotides.

The 3′-end of the CTO may comprise additional nucleotides not involved in hybridization with the fragment. Moreover, the capturing portion of the CTO may comprise a nucleotide sequence complementary only to a part of the fragment (e.g., a part of the fragment containing its 3′-end portion) so long as it is stably hybridized with the fragment.

The term used “capturing portion comprising a nucleotide sequence complementary to the 5′-tagging portion or a part of the 5′-tagging portion” is described herein to encompass various designs and compositions of the capturing portion of the CTO as discussed above.

The CTO may be designed to have a hairpin structure.

The length of the CTO may be widely varied. For example, the CTO is 7-1000 nucleotides, 7-500 nucleotides, 7-300 nucleotides, 7-100 nucleotides, 7-80 nucleotides, 7-60 nucleotides, 7-40 nucleotides, 15-1000 nucleotides, 15-500 nucleotides, 15-300 nucleotides, 15-100 nucleotides, 15-80 nucleotides, 15-60 nucleotides, 15-40 nucleotides, 20-1000 nucleotides, 20-500 nucleotides, 20-300 nucleotides, 20-100 nucleotides, 20-80 nucleotides, 20-60 nucleotides, 20-40 nucleotides, 30-1000 nucleotides, 30-500 nucleotides, 30-300 nucleotides, 30-100 nucleotides, 30-80 nucleotides, 30-60 nucleotides or 30-40 nucleotides in length. The capturing portion of the CTO may have any length so long as it is specifically hybridized with the fragment released from the PTO. For example, the capturing portion of the CTO is 5-100 nucleotides, 5-60 nucleotides, 5-40 nucleotides, 5-30 nucleotides, 5-20 nucleotides, 10-100 nucleotides, 10-60 nucleotides, 10-40 nucleotides, 10-30 nucleotides, 10-20 nucleotides, 15-100 nucleotides, 15-60 nucleotides, 15-40 nucleotides, 15-30 nucleotides or 15-20 nucleotides in length. The templating portion of the CTO may have any length so long as it can act as a template in extension of the fragment released from the PTO. For example, the templating portion of the CTO is 1-900 nucleotides, 1-400 nucleotides, 1-300 nucleotides, 1-100 nucleotides, 1-80 nucleotides, 1-60 nucleotides, 1-40 nucleotides, 1-20 nucleotides, 2-900 nucleotides, 2-400 nucleotides, 2-300 nucleotides, 2-100 nucleotides, 2-80 nucleotides, 2-60 nucleotides, 2-40 nucleotides, 2-20 nucleotides, 5-900 nucleotides, 5-400 nucleotides, 5-300 nucleotides, 5-100 nucleotides, 5-80 nucleotides, 5-60 nucleotides, 5-40 nucleotides, 5-30 nucleotides, 10-900 nucleotides, 10-400 nucleotides, 10-300 nucleotides, 15-900 nucleotides, 15-100 nucleotides, 15-80 nucleotides, 15-60 nucleotides, 15-40 nucleotides or 15-20 nucleotides in length.

The 3′-end of the CTO may have a 3′-OH terminal. Preferably, the 3′-end of the CTO is blocked to prohibit its extension. The non-extendible blocking of the CTO may be achieved in accordance with conventional methods. For instance, the blocking may be performed by adding to the 3′-hydroxyl group of the last nucleotide of the CTO a chemical moiety such as biotin, labels, a phosphate group, alkyl group, non-nucleotide linker, phosphorothioate or alkane-diol. Alternatively, the blocking may be carried out by removing the 3′-hydroxyl group of the last nucleotide or using a nucleotide with no 3′-hydroxyl group such as dideoxynucleotide.

The fragment released from the PTO is hybridized with the CTO, providing a form suitable in extension of the fragment. Although an undigested PTO is also hybridized with the capturing portion of the CTO through its 5′-tagging portion, its 3′-targeting portion is not hybridized to the CTO which prohibits the formation of an extended duplex.

The hybridization in the step (c) can be described in detail with referring to descriptions in the step (a).

Step (d): Extension of the Fragment

The extension reaction is carried out using the resultant of the step (c) and a template-dependent nucleic acid polymerase. The fragment hybridized with the capturing portion of the CTO is extended to form an extended duplex. In contrast, uncleaved PTO hybridized with the capturing portion of the CTO is not extended such that no extended duplex is formed.

The term used herein “extended duplex” means a duplex formed by extension reaction in which the fragment hybridized with the capturing portion of the CTO is extended using the templating portion of the CTO as a template and the template-dependent nucleic acid polymerase.

The extended duplex has different T_(m) value from that of the hybrid between the uncleaved PTO and the CTO.

Preferably, the extended duplex has higher T_(m) value than the hybrid between the uncleaved PTO and the CTO.

The T_(m) value of the extended duplex is adjustable by (i) a sequence and/or length of the fragment, (ii) a sequence and/or length of the CTO or (iii) the sequence and/or length of the fragment and the sequence and/or length of the CTO.

It is a striking feature of the present invention that the adjustable T_(m) value of the extended duplex is employed to give a target signal indicative of the presence of the extended duplex by melting the extended duplex in the step (e).

The term used herein “T_(m)” refers to a melting temperature at which half a population of double stranded nucleic acid molecules are dissociated to single-stranded molecules. The T_(m) value is determined by length and G/C content of nucleotides hybridized. The T_(m) value may be calculated by conventional methods such as Wallace rule (R. B. Wallace, et al., Nucleic Acids Research, 6:3543-3547(1979)) and nearest-neighbor method (SantaLucia J. Jr, et al., Biochemistry, 35:3555-3562(1996)); Sugimoto N., et al., Nucleic Acids Res., 24:4501-4505(1996)).

According to a preferred embodiment, the T_(m) value refers to actual T_(m) values under reaction conditions actually practiced.

The template-dependent nucleic acid polymerase used in the step (d) may include any nucleic acid polymerases, for example, Klenow fragment of E. coli DNA polymerase I, a thermostable DNA polymerase and bacteriophage 17 DNA polymerase. Preferably, the polymerase is a thermostable DNA polymerase which may be obtained from a variety of bacterial species, including Thermus aquaticus (Taq), Thermus thermophllus (Tth), Thermus filiformis, Thermis flavus, Thermococcus literalis, Thermus antranikianii, Thermus caldophllus, Thermus chliarophilus, Thermus flavus, Thermus igniterrae, Thermus lacteus, Thermus oshimai, Thermus ruber; Thermus rubens, Thermus scotoductus, Thermus silvans, Thermus species Z05, Thermus species sps 17, Thermus thermophilus, Thermotoga maritima, Thermotoga neapolitana, Thermosipho africanus, Thermococcus litoralis, Thermococcus barossi, Thermococcus gorgonarius, Thermotoga maritima, Thermotoga neapolitana, Thermosiphoafricanus, Pyrococcus furiosus (Pfu), Pyrococcus woesel, Pyrococcus honkoshii, Pyrococcus abyssi, Pyrodictium occultum, Aquifex pyrophilus and Aquifex aeolieus. Most preferably, the template-dependent nucleic acid polymerase is Taq polymerase.

According to a preferred embodiment, the enzyme having the 5′ nuclease activity used in the step (b) is identical to the template-dependent nucleic acid polymerase used in the step (d). More preferably, the enzyme having the 5′ nuclease activity used in the step (b), the template-dependent nucleic acid polymerase used for extension of the upstream primer and the template-dependent nucleic acid polymerase used in the step (d) are identical to one another.

The extended duplex has a label originated from (i) at least one label linked to the PTO fragment and/or the CTO, (ii) a label incorporated into the extended duplex during the extension reaction, (iii) a label incorporated into the extended duplex during the extension reaction and a label linked to the PTO fragment and/or the CTO, or (iv) an intercalating label.

The presence of the extended duplex can indicate the presence of the target nucleic acid sequence because the extended duplex is formed when the target nucleic acid sequence is present. For detecting the presence of the extended duplex in a direct fashion, an extended duplex having a label providing a detectable signal is formed in the step (d). The label used on the extended duplex provides a signal change depending on whether the extended duplex is in a double strand or single strand, finally giving the target signal indicative of the presence of the extended duplex by melting of the extended duplex.

Step (e): Melting of the Extended Duplex

Following the extension reaction, the extended duplex is melted over a range of temperatures to give a target signal indicative of the presence of the extended duplex

The target signal is provided by (i) at least one label linked to the fragment and/or the CTO, (ii) a label incorporated into the extended duplex during the extension reaction, (iii) a label incorporated into the extended duplex during the extension reaction and a label linked to the fragment and/or the CTO, or (iv) an intercalating label.

The term used herein “target signal” means any signal capable of indicating the presence of the extended duplex. For example, the target signal includes a signal from labels (signal generation or extinguishment), a signal change from labels (signal increase or decrease), a melting curve, a melting pattern and a melting temperature (or T_(m) value).

According to a preferred embodiment, the target signal is a signal change from the label on the extended duplex in the melting step. The signal change may be obtained by measuring signals at not less than two different temperatures. Alternatively, the target signal is a melting curve, a melting pattern and a melting temperature (or T_(m) value) obtained by measuring signals from the label on the extended duplex over a range of temperatures. Preferably, the range of temperatures is a range of temperatures for a melting curve analysis or temperatures around the T_(m) value of the extended duplex.

The extended duplex has higher T_(m) value than the hybrid between the uncleaved PTO and the CTO. Therefore, the extended duplex and the hybrid exhibit different melting patterns from each other. Such different melting patterns permit to discriminate a target signal from non-target signals. The different melting pattern or melting temperature generates the target signal together with a suitable labeling system.

The suitable labeling systems used in this invention are various in terms of their types, locations and signal generation fashion.

The labeling systems useful in this invention will be described in detail as follows:

(i) Label Linked to the Fragment and/or the CTO

According to a preferred embodiment, the target signal is provided by at least one label linked to the fragment and/or the CTO. As the extended duplex is formed between the PTO fragment and CTO, either the label on the PTO fragment or on the CTO is present on the extended duplex, providing the target signal in the melting step.

The label includes an interactive dual label and a single label.

(i-1) Interactive Dual Label

The interactive label system is a signal generating system in which energy is passed non-radioactively between a donor molecule and an acceptor molecule. As a representative of the interactive label system, the FRET (fluorescence resonance energy transfer) label system includes a fluorescent reporter molecule (donor molecule) and a quencher molecule (acceptor molecule). In FRET, the energy donor is fluorescent, but the energy acceptor may be fluorescent or non-fluorescent. In another form of interactive label systems, the energy donor is non-fluorescent, e.g., a chromophore, and the energy acceptor is fluorescent. In yet another form of interactive label systems, the energy donor is luminescent, e.g. bioluminescent, chemiluminescent, electrochemiluminescent, and the acceptor is fluorescent. The donor molecule and the acceptor molecule may be described as a reporter molecular and a quencher molecule in the present invention, respectively.

Preferably, the signal indicative of the presence of the extended duplex (i.e., the presence of the target nucleic acid sequence) is generated by interactive label systems, more preferably the FRET label system (i.e., interactive dual label system).

First Embodiment Intrastrand Interactive-Dual Label

In a first embodiment of an interactive dual label system, the fragment or the CTO has an interactive dual label comprising a reporter molecule and a quencher molecule; wherein the melting of the extended duplex in the step (e) induces change of a signal from the interactive dual label to give the target signal in the step (e). The first embodiment of the interactive dual label system is illustrated in FIGS. 2, 6 and 9. The first embodiment is named as an intrastrand interactive-dual label.

First Embodiment in FIG. 2 Intrastrand Interactive-Dual Label

The exemplified embodiment is described with referring to FIG. 2. The templating portion of the CTO has a reporter molecule and a quencher molecule. The PTO hybridized with the target nucleic acid sequence is digested to release the fragment and the fragment is hybridized with the capturing portion of the CTO and extended to form the extended duplex.

When the extended duplex is formed in the step (d), the reporter molecule and the quencher molecule on the CTO are conformationally separated to allow the quencher molecule to unquench the signal from the reporter molecule; wherein when the extended duplex is melted in the step (e), the reporter molecule and the quencher molecule are conformationally adjacent to each other to allow the quencher molecule to quench the signal from the reporter molecule, such that the target signal is given to indicate the presence of the extended duplex in the step (e).

The expression used herein “the reporter molecule and the quencher molecule are conformationally adjacent” means that the reporter molecule and the quencher molecule are three-dimensionally adjacent to each other by a conformational structure of the fragment or CTO such as random coil and hairpin structure.

The expression used herein “the reporter molecule and the quencher molecule are conformationally separated” means that the reporter molecule and the quencher molecule are three-dimensionally separated by change of a conformational structure of the fragment or CTO upon the formation of a double strand.

Preferably, the target signal given in the step (e) includes melting curve, a melting pattern or a T_(m) value that is obtained by measuring change of the fluorescent signal generated in the step (d).

According to a preferred embodiment, the reporter molecule and the quencher molecule may be located at any site on the CTO, so long as the signal from the reporter molecule is quenched and unquenched depending on melting of the extended duplex.

According to a preferred embodiment, the reporter molecule and the quencher molecule both are linked to the templating portion or to the capturing portion of the CTO.

According to a preferred embodiment, the reporter molecule and the quencher molecule are positioned at 5′-end and 3′-end of CTO.

According to a preferred embodiment, one of the reporter molecule and the quencher molecule on the CTO is located at its 5′-end or at 1-5 nucleotides apart from its 5′-end and the other is located to quench and unquench the signal from the reporter molecule depending on conformation of CTO

According to the preferred embodiment, one of the reporter molecule and the quencher molecule on the CTO is located at its 3′-end or at 1-5 nucleotides apart from its 3′-end and the other is located to quench and unquench the signal from the reporter molecule depending on conformation of CTO.

According to a preferred embodiment, the reporter molecule and the quencher molecule are positioned at no more than 80 nucleotides, more preferably no more than 60 nucleotides, still more preferably no more than 30 nucleotides, still much more preferably no more than 25 nucleotides apart from each other. According to a preferred embodiment, the reporter molecule and the quencher molecule are separated by at least 4 nucleotides, more preferably at least 6 nucleotides, still more preferably at least 10 nucleotides, still much more preferably at least 15 nucleotides.

In the present invention, a hybrid between the uncleaved PTO and the CTO may be formed.

Where the templating portion of the CTO is labeled with an interactive dual label as shown in FIG. 2, a signal change from the label on the hybrid between the uncleaved PTO and the CTO is not induced. Therefore, the hybrid does not provide a non-target signal.

Where the capturing portion of the CTO is labeled with an interactive dual label, the hybrid between the uncleaved PTO and the CTO provides a non-target signal in the melting step. In this case, the difference in T_(m) values of the extended duplex and the hybrid permits to discriminate the target signal of the extended duplex from the non-target signal of the hybrid.

First Embodiment in FIG. 6 Intrastrand Interactive-Dual Label

The exemplified embodiment is described with referring to FIG. 6. The 5′-tagging portion of the PTO has a reporter molecule and a quencher molecule. The PTO hybridized with the target nucleic acid sequence is digested to release the fragment comprising the 5′-tagging portion with the reporter molecule and the quencher molecule. The fragment is hybridized with the capturing portion of the CTO.

When the extended duplex is formed in the step (d), the reporter molecule and the quencher molecule on the fragment are conformationally separated to allow the quencher molecule to unquench the signal from the reporter molecule; wherein when the extended duplex is melted in the step (e), the reporter molecule and the quencher molecule are conformationally adjacent to each other to allow the quencher molecule to quench the signal from the reporter molecule, such that the target signal is given to indicate the presence of the extended duplex in the step (e).

According to a preferred embodiment, the reporter molecule and the quencher molecule may be located at any site on the fragment, so long as the signal from the reporter molecule is quenched and unquenched depending on melting of the extended duplex.

According to a preferred embodiment, one of the reporter molecule and the quencher molecule on the fragment is located at its 5′-end or at 1-5 nucleotides apart from its 5′-end and the other is located to quench and unquench the signal from the reporter molecule depending on conformation of the fragment.

According to a preferred embodiment, the reporter molecule and the quencher molecule are positioned at no more than 50 nucleotides, more preferably no more than 40 nucleotides, still more preferably no more than 30 nucleotides, still much more preferably no more than 20 nucleotides apart from each other. According to a preferred embodiment, the reporter molecule and the quencher molecule are separated by at least 4 nucleotides, more preferably at least 6 nucleotides, still more preferably at least 10 nucleotides, still much more preferably at least 15 nucleotides.

As represented in FIG. 6, the hybrid between the uncleaved PTO and the CTO provides a non-target signal in the melting step. In this case, the difference in T_(m) values of the extended duplex and the hybrid permits to discriminate the target signal of the extended duplex from the non-target signal of the hybrid.

Second Embodiment Interstrand Interactive-Dual Label

In the second embodiment of the interactive label system, the fragment has one of an interactive dual label comprising a reporter molecule and a quencher molecule and the CTO has the other of the interactive dual label; wherein the melting of the extended duplex in the step (e) induces change of a signal from the interactive dual label to give the target signal in the step (e).

The exemplified embodiment is described with referring to FIG. 8.

When the extended duplex is formed in the step (d), the signal from the reporter molecule linked to the CTO is quenched by the quencher molecule linked to the PTO. When the extended duplex is melted in the step (e), the reporter molecule and the quencher molecule are separated to allow the quencher molecule to unquench the signal from the reporter molecule, such that the target signal is given to indicate the presence of the extended duplex in the step (e).

Preferably, the target signal given in the step (e) includes a melting curve, a melting pattern or a T_(m) value that is obtained by measuring change of the fluorescent signal from the interactive dual label.

The reporter molecule and the quencher molecule may be located at any site of the PTO fragment and the CTO, so long as the signal from the reporter molecule is quenched by the quencher molecule in the extended duplex.

According to a preferred embodiment, the reporter molecule or the quencher molecule on the PTO fragment is located at the 5′-end of the 5′-tagging portion.

According to a preferred embodiment, the reporter molecule or the quencher molecule on the CTO is located at its 3′-end.

As represented in FIG. 8, the hybrid between the uncleaved PTO and the CTO provides a non-target signal in the melting step. In this case, the difference in T_(m) values of the extended duplex and the hybrid permits to discriminate the target signal of the extended duplex from the non-target signal of the hybrid.

The reporter molecule and the quencher molecule useful in the present invention may include any molecules known in the art. Examples of those are: Cy2™ (506), YO-PRO™-1 (509), YOYO™-1 (509), Calcein (517), FITC (518), FluorX™ (519), Alexa™ (520), Rhodamine 110 (520), Oregon Green™ 500 (522), Oregon Green™ 488 (524), RiboGreen™ (525), Rhodamine Green™ (527), Rhodamine 123 (529), Magnesium Green“(531), Calcium Green” (533), TO-PRO™-1 (533), TOTO1 (533), JOE (548), BODIPY530/550 (550), Dil (565), BODIPY TMR (568), BODIPY558/568 (568), BODIPY564/570 (570), Cy3™ (570), Alexa™ 546 (570), TRITC (572), Magnesium Orange™ (575), Phycoerythrin R&B (575), Rhodamine Phalloidin (575), Calcium Orange“(576), Pyronin Y (580), Rhodamine B (580), TAMRA (582), Rhodamine Red™ (590), Cy3.5™ (596), ROX (608), Calcium Crimson” (615), Alexa™ 594 (615), Texas Red(615), Nile Red (628), YO-PRO™-3 (631), YOYO™-3 (631), R-phycocyanin (642), C-Phycocyanin (648), TO-PRO™-3 (660), TOTO3 (660), DiD DilC(5) (665), Cy5™ (670), Thiadicarbocyanine (671), Cy5.5 (694), HEX (556), TET (536), Biosearch Blue (447), CAL Fluor Gold 540 (544), CAL Fluor Orange 560 (559), CAL Fluor Red 590 (591), CAL Fluor Red 610 (610), CAL Fluor Red 635 (637), FAM (520), Fluorescein (520), Fluorescein-C3 (520), Pulsar 650 (566), Quasar 570 (667), Quasar 670 (705) and Quasar 705 (610). The numeric in parenthesis is a maximum emission wavelength in nanometer. Preferably, the reporter molecule and the quencher molecule include JOE, FAM, TAMRA, ROX and fluorescein-based label.

Suitable pairs of reporter-quencher are disclosed in a variety of publications as follows: Pesce et al., editors, Fluorescence Spectroscopy (Marcel Dekker, New York, 1971); White et al., Fluorescence Analysis: A Practical Approach (Marcel Dekker, New York, 1970); Berlman, Handbook of Fluorescence Spectra of Aromatic Molecules, 2^(nd) Edition (Academic Press, New York, 1971); Griffiths, Color AND Constitution of Organic Molecules (Academic Press, New York, 1976); Bishop, editor, Indicators (Pergamon Press, Oxford, 1972); Haugland, Handbook of Fluorescent Probes and Research Chemicals (Molecular Probes, Eugene, 1992); Pringsheim, Fluorescence and Phosphorescence (Interscience Publishers, New York, 1949); Haugland, R. P., Handbook of Fluorescent Probes and Research Chemicals, 6^(th) Edition (Molecular Probes, Eugene, Oreg., 1996) U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,996,345 and 4,351,760.

It is noteworthy that a non-fluorescent black quencher molecule capable of quenching a fluorescence of a wide range of wavelengths or a specific wavelength may be used in the present invention. Examples of those are BHQ and DABCYL.

In the FRET label adopted to the CTO, the reporter encompasses a donor of FRET and the quencher encompasses the other partner (acceptor) of FRET. For example, a fluorescein dye is used as the reporter and a rhodamine dye as the quencher.

The labels may be linked to the CTO or PTO by conventional methods. Preferably, it is linked to the CTO or PTO through a spacer containing carbon atoms (e.g., 3-carbon spacer, 6-carbon spacer or 12-carbon spacer).

(i-2) Single Label

The present invention is also excellently executed using single label systems for providing signals indicating the presence of target nucleic acid sequences.

According to a preferred embodiment, the fragment or the CTO has a single label, and the melting of the extended duplex in the step (e) induces change of a signal from the single label to give the target signal in the step (e).

First Embodiment in FIG. 3 Single Label System

The exemplified embodiment is described with referring to FIG. 3. The templating portion of the CTO has a single fluorescent label. The PTO hybridized with the target nucleic acid sequence is digested to release the fragment. The fragment is hybridized with the capturing portion of the CTO and extended to form the extended duplex. By the formation of the extended duplex, the fluorescent, intensity from the single fluorescent label becomes increased. When the extended duplex is melted in the step (e), the fluorescent intensity from the single fluorescent label becomes decreased, such that the target signal is given to indicate the presence of the extended duplex in the step (e).

According to a preferred embodiment, the single label may be located at any site on the CTO, so long as the signal level from the single label is changed depending on melting of the extended duplex.

According to a preferred embodiment, the single label is linked to the templating portion or to the capturing portion of the CTO.

Where the templating portion of the CTO is labeled with a single label as shown in FIG. 3, a signal change from the label on the hybrid between the uncleaved PTO and the CTO is not induced. Therefore, the hybrid does not provide a non-target signal.

Where the capturing portion of the CTO is labeled with a single label, the hybrid between the uncleaved PTO and the CTO provides a non-target signal in the melting step. In this case, the difference in T_(m) values of the extended duplex and the hybrid permits to discriminate the target signal of the extended duplex from the non-target signal of the hybrid.

Second Embodiment in FIG. 7 Single Label System

The exemplified embodiment is described with reference to FIG. 7. The 5′-tagging portion of the PTO has a single fluorescent label. The PTO hybridized with the target nucleic acid sequence is digested to release the fragment comprising the 5′-tagging portion with the single fluorescent label. By the hybridization, the signal intensity from the single fluorescent label on the 5′-tagging portion is increased. When the extended duplex is melted in the step (e), the signal intensity from the single fluorescent label becomes decreased, such that the target signal is given to indicate the presence of the extended duplex in the step (e).

According to a preferred embodiment, the single label may be located at any site on the PTO fragment, so long as the signal level from the single label is changed depending on melting of the extended duplex.

As represented in FIG. 7, the hybrid between the uncleaved PTO and the CTO provides a non-target signal in the melting step. In this case, the difference in T_(m) values of the extended duplex and the hybrid permits to discriminate the target signal of the extended duplex from the non-target signal of the hybrid.

The single label used herein has to be capable of providing a different signal depending on its presence on a double strand or single strand. The single label includes a fluorescent label, a luminescent label, a chemiluminescent label, an electrochemical label and a metal label. Preferably, the single label includes a fluorescent label.

The types and preferable binding sites of single fluorescent labels used in this invention are disclosed U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,537,886 and 7,348,141, the teachings of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entity. Preferably, the single fluorescent label includes JOE, FAM, TAMRA, ROX and fluorescein-based label. The labeled nucleotide residue is preferably positioned at internal nucleotide residue within the oligonucleotide rather than at the 5′-end or the 3′-end.

The single fluorescent label useful in the present invention may be described with reference to descriptions for reporter and quencher molecules as indicated above.

In particular, where the present invention on a solid phase is performed using a single label, it can utilize a general fluorescent label and does not require a specific fluorescent label capable of providing a fluorescent signal with different intensities depending on its presence on double strand or single strand. The target signal provided on the solid substrate is measured. The embodiment of the single label system with immobilized CTO is illustrated in FIG. 12.

When the CTO immobilized onto a solid substrate is used, chemical labels (e.g. biotin) or enzymatic labels (e.g. alkaline phosphatase, peroxidase, β-galactosidase and β-gluocosidase) may be used.

In the labeling system using “label linked to the fragment and/or the CTO”, the labels may be positioned to the extent that when a hybrid between an uncleaved PTO and the CTO is formed, the hybrid does not give a non-target signal in the step (e). Alternatively, the labels may be positioned to the extent that when a hybrid between an uncleaved PTO and the CTO is formed, the hybrid gives a non-target signal in the step (e); wherein the T_(m) value of the extended duplex is higher than that of the hybrid between the uncleaved PTO and the CTO.

Particularly, where the labels are positioned to the extent that a hybrid between an uncleaved PTO and the CTO does not give a non-target signal, the range including T_(m) value of the hybrid can be utilized to select T_(m) value of the extended duplex for detecting a target nucleic acid sequence.

(ii) Label Incorporated into the Extended Duplex

The present invention may employ a label incorporated into the extended duplex during the extension reaction for providing the target signal indicative of the presence of the extended duplex.

Although the PTO fragment or CTO has no label, a label incorporated into the extended duplex during the extension reaction is successfully used to allow the extended duplex to be labeled. FIGS. 10 and 11 illustrate an embodiment in which a single-labeled nucleotide is incorporated into the extended duplex during the extension reaction (see C and D of FIGS. 10 and 11). This embodiment is also applicable to other embodiments using a melting analysis.

According to a preferred embodiment, the target signal is provided by a single label incorporated into the extended duplex during the extension reaction; wherein the incorporated single label is linked to a nucleotide incorporated during the extension reaction; wherein the melting of the extended duplex in the step (e) induces change of a signal from the single label to give the target signal in the step (e).

The exemplified embodiment is described with reference to FIG. 10. The PTO hybridized with the target nucleic acid sequence is digested to release the fragment. The fragment is hybridized with the capturing portion of the CTO immobilized on a solid substrate and extended in the presence of nucleotides labeled with the single fluorescent label to form the extended duplex. The fluorescent signal from the extended duplex may be detected on spot of the solid substrate with immobilized CTO. When the extended duplex is melted, a strand having a fluorescent label is released and the fluorescent signal is no longer detected on the spot (not shown in FIG. 10). Therefore, a signal change can be provided on the spot by melting of the extended duplex. In this regard, the target signal is given to indicate the presence of the extended duplex in the step (e).

The target signal given in the step (e) includes a melting curve, a melting pattern or a T_(m) value that is obtained by measuring change of the fluorescent intensity on the CTO-immobilized spot.

According to a preferred embodiment, a nucleotide incorporated during the extension reaction is a ddNTP.

According to a preferred embodiment, a nucleotide incorporated during the extension reaction has a first non-natural base and the CTO has a nucleotide having a second non-natural base with a specific binding affinity to the first non-natural base, as illustrated in FIG. 11. The nucleotide having the second non-natural base is preferably located at any site on the templating portion of the CTO.

The term used herein “non-natural base” refers to derivatives of natural bases such as adenine (A), guanine (G), thymine (T), cytosine (C) and uracil (U), which are capable of forming hydrogen-bonding base pairs. The term used herein “non-natural base” includes bases having different base pairing patterns from natural bases as mother compounds, as described, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,432,272, 5,965,364, 6,001,983, and 6,037,120. The base pairing between non-natural bases involves two or three hydrogen bonds as natural bases. The base pairing between non-natural bases is also formed in a specific manner.

Specific examples of non-natural bases include the following bases in base pair combinations: iso-C/iso-G, iso-dC/iso-dG, K/X, Ha and M/N (see U.S. Pat. No. 7,422,850).

The exemplified embodiment is described with reference to FIG. 11. The fragment is hybridized with the CTO with a nucleotide having a second non-natural base (e.g., iso-dC) with a specific binding affinity to a first non-natural base (e.g., iso-dG). The extension is carried out in the presence of a nucleotide having the first non-natural base labeled with a single fluorescent label, forming the extended duplex. In the extension reaction, the nucleotide having the first non-natural base is incorporated at an opposition site to the nucleotide having the second non-natural base.

The fluorescent signal from the extended duplex may be detected on spot of a solid substrate with immobilized CTO. When the extended duplex is melted, a strand having a fluorescent label is released and the fluorescent signal is no longer detected on the spot (not shown in FIG. 11). Therefore, a signal change can be provided on the spot by melting of the extended duplex. In this regard, the target signal is given to indicate the presence of the extended duplex in the step (e).

Where the label incorporated into the extended duplex during the extension reaction is employed, the label is not incorporated into the hybrid between the uncleaved PTO and the CTO because the hybrid is not extended. Therefore, the hybrid does not provide a non-target signal.

The types and characteristics of the single labels used may be described with reference to descriptions for the labeling system using “label linked to the fragment and/or the CTO” as indicated hereinabove.

(iii) Label Incorporated into the Extended Duplex and Label Linked to the Fragment or the CTO

The present invention may employ a labeling system using cooperation of a label incorporated into the extended duplex during the extension reaction and a label linked to the fragment and/or the CTO, as illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5.

According to a preferred embodiment, the target signal is provided by a label incorporated into the extended duplex during the extension reaction and a label linked to the fragment and/or the CTO, and the incorporated label is linked to a nucleotide incorporated during the extension reaction; wherein the two labels are an interactive dual label of a reporter molecule and a quencher molecule; wherein the melting of the extended duplex in the step (e) induces change of a signal from the interactive dual label to give the target signal in the step (e).

More preferably, the nucleotide incorporated during the extension reaction has a first non-natural base and the CTO has a nucleotide having a second non-natural base with a specific binding affinity to the first non-natural.

The exemplified embodiment is described with reference to FIG. 4. The fragment is hybridized with the CTO comprising a reporter or quencher molecule and a nucleotide having a second non-natural base (e.g., iso-dC) which is a specific binding affinity to a first non-natural base (e.g., iso-dG). The extension is carried out in the presence of a nucleotide having the first non-natural base labeled with a quencher or reporter molecule, forming the extended duplex in which the signal from the reporter molecule is quenched by the quencher molecule. In the extension reaction, the nucleotide having the first non-natural base is incorporated at an opposition site to the nucleotide having the second non-natural base.

When the extended duplex is melted in the step (e), the reporter molecule and the quencher molecule are separated to allow the quencher molecule to unquench the signal from the reporter molecule, such that the target signal is given to indicate the presence of the extended duplex in the step (e).

Preferably, the target signal given in the step (e) includes a melting curve, a melting pattern or a T_(m) value that is obtained by measuring change of the signal from the interactive dual label.

The site of the label on the CTO and the incorporation site of the label incorporated are determined to the extent that the two labels are acted as an interactive dual label for inducing signal change in the melting step.

Still more preferably, the templating portion of the CTO has a reporter or quencher molecule and a nucleotide having a second non-natural base. The extension reaction in the step (d) is performed in the presence of a nucleotide having a quencher or reporter molecule and a first non-natural base with a specific binding affinity to the second non-natural base in the CTO. The two non-natural bases in the extended duplex in the step (d) form a base-pairing to quench a signal from the reporter molecule by the quencher molecule and to induce change of a signal, whereby the target signal is provided. Alternatively, the fragment has a reporter or quencher molecule and the templating portion of the CTO has a nucleotide having a second non-natural base. The extension reaction in the step (d) is performed in the presence of a nucleotide having a quencher or reporter molecule and a first non-natural base with a specific binding affinity to the second non-natural base in the CTO. The two non-natural bases in the extended duplex in the step (d) form a base-pairing to induce change a signal from the reporter molecule by quenching, whereby the target signal is provided.

Another exemplified embodiment is described with reference to FIG. 5. In this embodiment, the fragment having a reporter or quencher molecule is hybridized with the CTO comprising a nucleotide having a second non-natural base (e.g., iso-dC) which is a specific binding affinity to a first non-natural base (e.g., iso-dG). The extension is carried out in the presence of a nucleotide having the first non-natural base labeled with a quencher or reporter molecule, forming the extended duplex in which the signal from the reporter molecule is quenched by the quencher molecule. In the extension reaction, the nucleotide having the first non-natural base is incorporated at an opposition site to the nucleotide having the second non-natural base.

When the extended duplex is formed in the step (d), the reporter molecule and the quencher molecule are conformationally separated to allow the quencher molecule to unquench the signal from the reporter molecule; wherein when the extended duplex is melted in the step (e), the reporter molecule and the quencher molecule are conformationally adjacent to each other to allow the quencher molecule to quench the signal from the reporter molecule, such that the target signal is given to indicate the presence of the extended duplex in the step (e).

Preferably, the target signal given in the step (e) includes a melting curve, a melting pattern or a T_(m) value that is obtained by measuring change of the signal from the interactive dual label.

The site of the label on the PTO and the incorporation site of the label incorporated are determined to the extent that the two labels are acted as an interactive dual label for inducing signal change in the melting step.

Where the label incorporated into the extended duplex during the extension reaction is employed, the label is not incorporated into the hybrid between the uncleaved PTO and the CTO because the hybrid is not extended. Therefore, the hybrid does not provide a non-target signal in the melting step.

(iv) Intercalating Label

The present invention may employ an intercalating label for providing the target signal indicative of the presence of the extended duplex. The intercalating label is more useful on a solid phase reaction using immobilized CTOs because double-stranded nucleic acid molecules present in samples can generate signals.

Exemplified intercalating dyes useful in this invention include SYBR™ Green I, PO-PRO™-1, BO-PRO™-1, SYTO™43, SYTO™44, SYTO™45, SYTOX™Blue, POPO™-1, POPO™-3, BOBO™-1, BOBO™-3, LO-PRO™-1, JO-PRO™-1, YO-PRO™1, TO-PRO™1, SYTO™11, SYTO™13, SYTO™15, SYTO™16, SYTO™20, SYTO™23, TOTO™-3, YOYO™3, GelStar™ and thiazole orange. The intercalating dyes intercalate specifically into double-stranded nucleic acid molecules to generate signals.

FIG. 13 illustrates an embodiment in which intercalating dyes intercalate between base-pairs of the extended duplex (C and D in FIG. 13). The embodiment is also applicable to another embodiment using a melting analysis.

The exemplified embodiment is described with reference to FIG. 13. The fragment is hybridized with the capturing portion of the CTO immobilized on a solid substrate. The extension is carried out in the presence of an intercalating dye (e.g., SYBR™ Green) and produces the extended duplex with intercalating dyes. The fluorescent signal from the extended duplex on spot of the solid substrate with immobilized CTO may be detected using intercalating fluorescent dyes. When the extended duplex is melted, intercalating fluorescent dyes are released and the fluorescent signal is no longer detected on the spot (not shown in FIG. 13). In this regard, the target signal is given to indicate the presence of the extended duplex in the step (e).

The hybrid between the uncleaved PTO and the CTO provides a non-target signal in the melting step. In this case, the difference in T_(m) values of the extended duplex and the hybrid permits to discriminate the target signal of the extended duplex from the non-target signal of the hybrid (not shown in FIG. 13).

Preferably, the target signal given in the step (e) includes a melting curve, a melting pattern or a T_(m) value that is obtained by measuring change of the fluorescent signal generated in the step (d).

Step (f): Detection of Target Signal

Finally, the extended duplex is detected by measuring the target signal given in the step (e), whereby the presence of the extended duplex indicates the presence of the target nucleic acid sequence.

The detection may be carried out in various manners depending on the types of the target signal.

According to a preferred embodiment, the detection of the target signal is carried out by a melting analysis.

The term used herein “melting analysis” means a method in which a target signal indicative of the presence of the extended duplex is obtained by melting of the extended duplex, including a method to measure signals at two different temperatures, melting curve analysis, melting pattern analysis and melting peak analysis. Preferably, the melting analysis is a melting curve analysis.

According to a preferred embodiment, the detection of the presence of the extended strand in the step (e) is carried out by a melting analysis in which the extended duplex is melted over a range of temperatures to give a target signal indicative of the presence of the extended duplex.

Alternatively, the detection of the presence of the extended strand in the step (e) is carried out by a hybridization analysis. Preferably, the detection of the presence of the extended strand in the step (e) is carried out by a hybridization analysis in which the extended duplex is melted and the resultant is hybridized over a range of temperatures to give a target signal indicative of the presence of the extended duplex.

According to a preferred embodiment, the melting of the step (e) is followed by hybridization to give the target signal indicative of the presence of the extended duplex. In that case, the presence of the extended duplex is detected by hybridization curve analysis.

The melting curve or hybridization curve may be obtained by conventional technologies, for example, as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,174,670 and 5,789,167, Drobyshev et al, Gene 188: 45(1997); Kochinsky and Mirzabekov Human Mutation 19:343(2002); Livehits et al J. Biomol. Structure Dynam. 11:783(1994); and Howell et al Nature Biotechnology 17:87(1999). For example, a melting curve or hybridization curve may consist of a graphic plot or display of the variation of the output signal with the parameter of hybridization stringency. Output signal may be plotted directly against the hybridization parameter. Typically, a melting curve or hybridization curve will have the output signal, for example fluorescence, which indicates the degree of duplex structure (i.e. the extent of hybridization), plotted on the Y-axis and the hybridization parameter on the X axis.

A plot of the first derivative of the fluorescence vs. temperature, i.e., a plot of the rate of change in fluorescence vs. temperature (dF/dT vs. T) or (−dF/dT vs. T) provides melting peak.

The PTO and CTO may be comprised of naturally occurring dNMPs. Alternatively, the PTO and CTO may be comprised of modified nucleotide or non-natural nucleotide such as PNA (peptide nucleic acid, see PCT Publication No. WO 92/20702) and LNA (locked nucleic acid, see PCT Publication Nos. WO 98/22489, WO 98/39352 and WO 99/14226). The PTO and CTO may comprise universal bases such as deoxyinosine, inosine, 1-(2′-deoxy-beta-D-ribofuranosyl)-3-nitropyrrole and 5-nitroindole. The term “universal base” refers to one capable of forming base pairs with each of the natural DNA/RNA bases with little discrimination between them.

As described above, the PTO may be cleaved at a site located in a 3′-direction apart from the 3′-end of the 5′-tagging portion of the PTO. The cleavage site may be located at the 5′-end part of the 3′-targeting portion of the PTO. Where the PTO fragment comprises the 5′-end part of the 3′-targeting portion of the PTO, a site of the CTO hybridized with the 5′-end part of the 3′-targeting portion may comprise a universal base, degenerate sequence or their combination. For instance, if the PTO is cleaved at a site located one nucleotide in a 3′-direction apart from the 3′-end of the 5′-tagging portion of the PTO, it is advantageous that the 5′-end part of the capturing portion of the CTO comprises a universal base for hybridization with the nucleotide. If the PTO is cleaved at a site located two nucleotides in a 3′-direction apart from the 3′-end of the 5′-tagging portion of the PTO, it is advantageous that the 5′-end of the capturing portion of the CTO comprises a degenerate sequence and its 3′-direction-adjacent nucleotide comprises a universal base. As such, where the cleavage of the PTO occurs at various sites of the 5′-end part of the 3′-targeting portion, the utilization of universal bases and degenerate sequences in the CTO is useful. In addition, where the PTOs having the same 5′-tagging portion are used for screening multiple target nucleic acid sequences under upstream primer extension-dependent cleavage induction, the PTO fragments having different 5′-end parts of the 3′-targeting portion may be generated. In such cases, universal bases and degenerate sequences are usefully employed in the CTO. The strategies using universal bases and degenerate sequences in the CTO ensure to use one type or minimal types of the CTO for screening multiple target nucleic acid sequences.

According to a preferred embodiment, the method further comprises repeating all or some of the steps (a)-(e) with denaturation between repeating cycles.

According to a preferred embodiment, the method further comprises repeating the steps (a)-(b), (a)-(d) or (a)-(f) with denaturation between repeating cycles, more preferably using a downstream primer. This repetition permits to amplify the target nucleic acid sequence and/or the target signal.

The denaturation may be carried out by conventional technologies, including, but not limited to, heating, alkali, formamide, urea and glycoxal treatment, enzymatic methods (e.g., helicase action), and binding proteins. For instance, the melting can be achieved by heating at temperature ranging from 80° C. to 105° C. General methods for accomplishing this treatment are provided by Joseph Sambrook, et al., Molecular Cloning, A Laboratory Manual, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y. (2001).

According to a preferred embodiment, the present invention may be carried out by a series of melting analyses to qualitatively or quantitatively detect the target nucleic acid sequence.

More preferably, the present invention comprises (i) repeating the steps (a)-(d) with denaturation between repeating cycles to form the extended duplex, (ii) performing a melting analysis and (iii) repeating the steps (i) and (ii) at least twice. In such approach, the melting analysis is repeatedly carried out at least twice in a certain interval.

According to a preferred embodiment, the number of repetition of the steps (a)-(d) may be optionally controlled. In performing a series of melting analyses, the number of repetition of the steps (a)-(d) for a run of a melting analysis may be the same as or different from that of repetition of the steps (a)-(d) for another run of a melting analysis.

It would be understood by one of skill in the art that the repetition of the steps (a)-(d) is an illustrative example for the formation of the extended duplex. For instance, the present invention may be carried out by repeating the steps (a)-(b) and performing the steps (c) and (d) to form the extended duplex followed by performing a melting analysis.

According to a preferred embodiment, the steps (a)-(f) are performed in a reaction vessel or in separate reaction vessels. For example, the steps (a)-(b), (c)-(d) or (e)-(f) may be performed in separate reaction vessels.

According to a preferred embodiment, the steps (a)-(b) and (c)-(f) may be simultaneously or separately even in a reaction vessel depending on reaction conditions (particularly, temperature).

According to a preferred embodiment, at least two melting analyses in the present invention permit to quantitatively detect the target nucleic acid sequence.

The area and height of a melting peak obtained by a melting analysis are dependent on the amount of the extended duplex, providing information on the initial amount of the target nucleic acid sequence.

According to a preferred embodiment, the present invention comprises (i) increasing the number of the extended duplex by repetition of the steps (a)-(d) with denaturation between repeating cycles, (ii) performing a melting analysis and (iii) repeating the steps (i) and (ii) at least twice. The amount of the target nucleic acid sequence may be measured by determining a cycle number of the melting analyses at which a predetermined threshold value over the areas and/or the heights of melting peaks obtained is reached.

Alternatively, the quantification of the target nucleic acid sequence may be accomplished by plotting melting analysis information (e.g. area or height of peaks) against the cycle number of the repetition for increase in the amount of the extended duplex.

The present invention does not require that target nucleic acid sequences to be detected and/or amplified have any particular sequence or length, including any DNA (gDNA and cDNA) and RNA molecules.

Where a mRNA is employed as starting material, a reverse transcription step is necessary prior to performing annealing step, details of which are found in Joseph Sambrook, et al., Molecular Cloning, A Laboratory Manual, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y. (2001); and Noonan, K. F. et al., Nucleic Acids Res. 16:10366 (1988). For reverse transcription, a random hexamer or an oligonucleotide dT primer hybridizable to mRNA can be used.

The target nucleic acid sequences which may be detected and/or amplified include any naturally occurring prokaryotic, eukaryotic (for example, protozoans and parasites, fungi, yeast, higher plants, lower and higher animals, including mammals and humans) or viral (for example, Herpes viruses, HIV, influenza virus, Epstein-Barr virus, hepatitis virus, polio virus, etc.) or viroid nucleic acid.

The target nucleic acid sequence to be detected by the present invention includes a wide variety of nucleic acid sequences, e.g., sequences in a genome, artificially isolated or fragmented sequences and synthesized sequences (e.g., cDNA sequences and barcode sequences). For instance, the target nucleic acid sequence includes nucleic acid marker sequences for Immuno-PCR (IPCR). IPCR employs conjugates between nucleic acid marker sequences and antibodies together with PCR, which is widely applied for detecting various types of targets including proteins (see Sano et al., Science 258 pp: 120-122(1992), U.S. Pat. No. 5,665,539, Niemeyer et al., Trends in Biotechnology 23 pp: 208-216(2005), U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2005/0239108 and Ye et al., Journal of Environmental Science 22 pp: 796-800(2010)).

The present invention is also useful in detection of a nucleotide variation. Preferably, the target nucleic acid sequence comprises a nucleotide variation. The term “nucleotide variation” used herein refers to any single or multiple nucleotide substitutions, deletions or insertions in a DNA sequence at a particular location among contiguous DNA segments that are otherwise similar in sequence. Such contiguous DNA segments include a gene or any other portion of a chromosome. These nucleotide variations may be mutant or polymorphic allele variations. For example, the nucleotide variation detected in the present invention includes SNP (single nucleotide polymorphism), mutation, deletion, insertion, substitution and translocation. Exemplified nucleotide variation includes numerous variations in a human genome (e.g., variations in the MTHFR (methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase) gene), variations involved in drug resistance of pathogens and tumorigenesis-causing variations. The term nucleotide variation used herein includes any variation at a particular location in a nucleic acid sequence. In other words, the term nucleotide variation includes a wild type and its any mutant type at a particular location in a a nucleic acid sequence.

In the present invention for detection of a nucleotide variation in a target nucleic acid sequence, where primers or probes used have a complementary sequence to the nucleotide variation in the target nucleic acid sequence, the target nucleic acid sequence containing the nucleotide variation is described herein as a matching template. Where primers or probes used have a non-complementary sequence to the nucleotide variation in the target nucleic acid sequence, the target nucleic acid sequence containing the nucleotide variation is described herein as a mismatching template.

For detection of nucleotide variations, the 3′-end of the upstream primer may be designed to be opposite to a site of a nucleotide variation in a target nucleic acid sequence. According to a preferred embodiment, the 3′-end of the upstream primer has a complementary sequence to the nucleotide variation in a target nucleic acid sequence. The 3′-end of the upstream primer having a complementary sequence to the nucleotide variation in the target nucleic acid sequence is annealed to the matching template and extended to induce cleavage of the PTO. The resultant PTO fragment is hybridized with the CTO to provide the target signal. In contrast, where the 3′-end of the upstream primer is mismatched to a nucleotide variation in a mismatching template, it is not extended under conditions that annealing of the 3′-end of primers is essential for extension even when the upstream primer is hybridized with the mismatching template, thereby resulting in no generation of the target signal.

Alternatively, it is possible to use PTO cleavage depending on the hybridization of PTO having a complementary sequence to a nucleotide variation in a target nucleic acid sequence. For example, under controlled conditions, a PTO having a complementary sequence to the nucleotide variation in the target nucleic acid sequence is hybridized with the matching template and then cleaved. The resultant PTO fragment is hybridized with the CTO to provide the target signal. While, under the controlled conditions, the PTO is not hybridized with a mismatching template having non-complementary sequence in the nucleotide variation position and not cleaved. Preferably, in this case, the complementary sequence to the nucleotide variation in the PTO is positioned at its middle of the 3′-targeting portion of the PTO.

According to an embodiment, the use of an artificial mismatch nucleotide enhances discrimination potential of the PTO to nucleotide variations.

Alternatively, it is preferable that the 5′-end part of the 3′-targeting portion of the PTO is positioned to a nucleotide variation in a target nucleic acid sequence for the detection of the nucleotide variation and the 5′-end part of the 3′-targeting portion of the PTO has a complementary sequence to the nucleotide variation in a target nucleic acid sequence.

For improving detection efficiency of nucleotide variations, the present invention may be performed with the PCR clamping method. The representative PCR clamping method using PNA is disclosed in Henrik et al., Nucleic Acid Research 21:5332-5336(1993) and Luo et al., Nucleic Acid Research Vol. 34, No 2 e12 (2006). For instance, the PCR clamping technology using PNA allows to amplify a nucleic acid sequence having a mutant type nucleotide variation but not to amplify a nucleic acid sequence having a wild type nucleotide variation, which is followed by the PTOCE assay, enabling more efficient detection of nucleotide variations. In particular, since the PCR clamping technology permits to amplify only a nucleic acid sequence having a specific-typed nucleotide variation, its combination with the present method would allow for minority-variant detection in a more efficient manner.

Where a probe having at its 5′-end portion a nucleotide variation discrimination portion is hybridized with a mismatch temple, its 5′-end portion may form a single strand under a certain condition. The probe may correspond to a PTO. The signal may be generated by PTO assay of the present invention. This approach may be useful in detection of a target nucleic acid sequence having a nucleotide variation non-complementary to the nucleotide variation discrimination site of probes.

According to a preferred embodiment, the target nucleic acid sequence used in the present invention is a pre-amplified nucleic acid sequence. The utilization of the pre-amplified nucleic acid sequence permits to significantly increase the sensitivity and specificity of target detection of the present invention.

According to a preferred embodiment, the method is performed in the presence of a downstream primer.

The advantages of the present invention may be highlighted in the simultaneous (multiplex) detection of at least two target nucleic acid sequences.

According to a preferred embodiment, the method is performed to detect at least two types (more preferably, at least three types, still more preferably at least five types) of target nucleic acid sequences.

According to a preferred embodiment, the method is performed to detect at least two types (more preferably, at least three types, still more preferably at least five types) of target nucleic acid sequences; wherein the upstream oligonucleotide comprises at least two types (more preferably at least three types, still more preferably at least five types) of oligonucleotides, the PTO comprises at least two types (more preferably at least three types, still more preferably at least five types) of the PTOs and the CTO comprises at least one type (preferably at least two types, more preferably at least three types, still more preferably at least five types) of the CTO; wherein when at least two types of the target nucleic acid sequences are present, the method provides at least two types of the target signals corresponding to the at least two types of the target nucleic acid sequences.

The 5′-tagging portions of the at least two PTOs may have an identical sequence to each other. For instance, where the present invention is carried out for screening target nucleic acid sequences, the 5′-tagging portions of PTOs may have the identical sequence.

Furthermore, a single type of the CTO may used for detection of a plurality of target nucleic acid sequences. For example, where the PTOs having an identical sequence in their 5′-tagging portions are employed for screening target nucleic acid sequences, a single type of the CTO may used.

According to a preferred embodiment, the extended duplexes corresponding to the at least two types of the target nucleic acid sequences have different T_(m) values from each other.

According to a preferred embodiment, the at least two types of the target signals corresponding to the at least two types of the target nucleic acid sequences are provided from different types of labels from each other.

According to a preferred embodiment, the at least two types of the target signals corresponding to the at least two types of the target nucleic acid sequences are provided from the same type of labels.

According to a preferred embodiment, the at least two type of the target signals corresponding to the at least two types of the target nucleic acid sequences are provided from the same type of labels; wherein the extended duplexes corresponding to the at least two types of the target nucleic acid sequences have different T_(m) values from each other.

The term used herein “different types of labels” refers to labels with different characteristics of detectable signals. For example, FAM and TAMRA as fluorescent reporter labels are considered as different types of labels because their excitation and emission wavelengths are different from each other.

Where the present invention is performed to simultaneously detect at least two types of the target nucleic acid sequences by melting curve analysis and the extended duplexes corresponding to the at least two types of the target nucleic acid sequences have different T_(m) values from each other, it is possible to detect at least two types of the target nucleic acid sequences even using a single type of a label (e.g. FAM).

Target Detection Using Immobilized CTO on a Solid Phase

The prominent advantage of the present invention is to be effective in detection of target nucleic acid sequences even on a solid phase such as microarray.

According to a preferred embodiment, the present invention is performed on the solid phase and the CTO is immobilized through its 5′-end or 3′-end onto a solid substrate. In a solid phase, the target signal provided on the solid substrate is measured.

Where the immobilized CTO is used, the melting analysis using labeling systems as described above is applicable to the solid phase reaction of the present invention.

According to a preferred embodiment, the target signal is provided by a single label linked to the fragment or by a single label incorporated into the extended duplex during the extension reaction. In particular, where the present invention on a solid phase is performed using a single label, it can utilize a general fluorescent label and does not require a specific fluorescent label capable of providing a fluorescent signal with different intensities depending on its presence on double strand or single strand.

When the CTO immobilized onto a solid substrate is used, chemical labels (e.g. biotin) or enzymatic labels (e.g. alkaline phosphatase, peroxidase, β-galactosidase and β-gluocosidase) may be used.

For the solid phase reaction, the CTO is immobilized directly or indirectly (preferably indirectly) through its 5′-end or 3′-end (preferably the 3′-end) onto the surface of the solid substrate. Furthermore, the CTO may be immobilized on the surface of the solid substrate in a covalent or non-covalent manner. Where the immobilized CTOs are immobilized indirectly onto the surface of the solid substrate, suitable linkers are used. The linkers useful in this invention may include any linkers utilized for probe immobilization on the surface of the solid substrate. For example, alkyl or aryl compounds with amine functionality, or alkyl or aryl compounds with thiol functionality serve as linkers for CTO immobilization. In addition, poly (T) tail or poly (A) tail may serve as linkers.

According to a preferred embodiment, the solid substrate used in the present invention is a microarray. The microarray to provide a reaction environment in this invention may include any those known to one of skill in the art. All processes of the present invention, i.e., hybridization to target nucleic acid sequences, cleavage, extension, melting and fluorescence detection, are carried out on the microarray. The immobilized CTOs on the microarray serve as hybridizable array elements. The solid substrate to fabricate microarray includes, but not limited to, metals (e.g., gold, alloy of gold and copper, aluminum), metal oxide, glass, ceramic, quartz, silicon, semiconductor, Si/SiO₂ wafer, germanium, gallium arsenide, carbon, carbon nanotube, polymers (e.g., polystyrene, polyethylene, polypropylene and polyacrylamide), sepharose, agarose and colloids. A plurality of immobilized CTOs in this invention may be immobilized on an addressable region or two or more addressable regions on a solid substrate that may comprise 2-1,000,000 addressable regions. Immobilized CTOs may be fabricated to produce array or arrays for a given application by conventional fabrication technologies such as photolithography, ink-jetting, mechanical microspotting, and derivatives thereof.

The present invention performed on the solid phase can detect simultaneously a plurality of target nucleic acid sequences even using a single type of a label because the labels on the CTOs immobilized are physically separated. In this regard, the number of target nucleic acid sequences to be detected by the present invention on the solid phase is not limited.

In the present invention, a PTO fragment is produced by cleavage of the PTO hybridized with the target nucleic acid and it is annealed to and extended on the CTO, resulting in the formation of an extended strand.

It is also possible to provide additional fragments extendible on the CTO for enhancing the number of the extended strands by an additional 5′ nuclease cleavage reaction using an additional PTO which comprises (i) a 3′-targeting portion comprising a hybridizing nucleotide sequence complementary to the extended strand and (ii) a 5′-tagging portion comprising a nucleotide sequence non-complementary to the extended strand but complementary to the capturing portion of the CTO. It is preferable to use an additional upstream oligonucleotide comprising a hybridizing nucleotide sequence complementary to the extended strand and being located upstream of the additional PTO for 5′ nuclease cleavage reaction.

The above preferable embodiment has the feature that the formation of the additional fragments is dependent on the formation of an extended strand.

Alternatively, the additional fragments can be provided by using an additional PTO which comprises (i) a 3′-targeting portion comprising a hybridizing nucleotide sequence complementary to the templating portion of CTO and (ii) a 5′-tagging portion comprising a nucleotide sequence non-complementary to the templating portion of CFO but complementary to the capturing portion of the CTO.

According to a preferred embodiment, additional extended duplexes are formed by additional production of the extended strands, contributing to amplification of the target signal on the solid substrate.

II. Preferable Embodiment with Amplification of a Target Nucleic Acid Sequence

Preferably, the present invention is carried out simultaneously with amplification of a target nucleic acid sequence using a primer pair composed of an upstream primer and a downstream primer capable of synthesizing the target nucleic acid sequence.

In another aspect of this invention, there is provided a method for detecting a target nucleic acid sequences from a DNA or a mixture of nucleic acids by a PTOCE (PTO Cleavage and Extension) assay, comprising:

-   -   (a) hybridizing the target nucleic acid sequences with a primer         pair comprising an upstream primer and a downstream primer and a         PTO (Probing and Tagging Oligonucleotide); wherein each of the         upstream primer and the downstream primer comprise a hybridizing         nucleotide sequence complementary to the target nucleic acid         sequence; the PTO comprises (i) a 3′-targeting portion         comprising a hybridizing nucleotide sequence complementary to         the target nucleic acid sequence and (ii) a 5′-tagging portion         comprising a nucleotide sequence non-complementary to the target         nucleic acid sequence; wherein the 3′-targeting portion is         hybridized with the target nucleic acid sequence and the         5′-tagging portion is not hybridized with the target nucleic         acid sequence; the PTO is located between the upstream primer         and the downstream primer; wherein the PTO is blocked at its         3′-end to prohibit its extension;     -   (b) contacting the resultant of the step (a) to a         template-dependent nucleic acid polymerase having a 5′ nuclease         activity under conditions for extension of the primers and for         cleavage of the PTO; wherein when the PTO is hybridized with the         target nucleic acid sequences, the upstream primer is extended         and the extended strand induces cleavage of the PTO by the         template-dependent nucleic acid polymerase having the 5′         nuclease activity such that the cleavage releases a fragment         comprising the 5′-tagging portion or a part of the 5′-tagging         portion of the PTO;     -   (c) hybridizing the fragment released from the PTO with a CTO         (Capturing and Templating Oligonucleotide); wherein the CTO         comprises in a 3′ to 5′ direction (i) a capturing portion         comprising a nucleotide sequence complementary to the 5′-tagging         portion or a part of the 5′-tagging portion of the PTO and (ii)         a templating portion comprising a nucleotide sequence         non-complementary to the 5′-tagging portion and the 3′-targeting         portion; wherein the fragment released from the PTO is         hybridized with the capturing portions of the CTO;     -   (d) performing an extension reaction using the resultant of the         step (c) and the template-dependent nucleic acid polymerase;         wherein the fragment hybridized with the capturing portion of         the CTO is extended and an extended duplex is formed; wherein         the extended duplex has a T_(m) value adjustable by (i) a         sequence and/or length of the fragment, (ii) a sequence and/or         length of the CTO or (iii) the sequence and/or length of the         fragment and the sequence and/or length of the CTO;     -   (e) melting the extended duplex over a range of temperatures to         give a target signal indicative of the presence of the extended         duplex; wherein the target signal is provided by (i) at least         one label linked to the fragment and/or the CTO, (ii) a label         incorporated into the extended duplex during the extension         reaction, (iii) a label incorporated into the extended duplex         during the extension reaction and a label linked to the fragment         and/or the CTO, or (iv) intercalating label; and     -   (f) detecting the extended duplex by measuring the target         signal; whereby the presence of the extended duplex indicates         the presence of the target nucleic acid sequence.

Since the preferable embodiment of the present invention follows the steps of the present method described above, the common descriptions between them are omitted in order to avoid undue redundancy leading to the complexity of this specification.

According to a preferred embodiment, the method further comprise repeating the steps (a)-(b), (a)-(d) or (a)-(f) with denaturation between repeating cycles. The reaction repetition is accompanied with amplification of the target nucleic acid sequence. Preferably, the amplification is performed in accordance with PCR (polymerase chain reaction) which is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,683,195, 4,683,202, and 4,800,159.

According to a preferred embodiment, the method is performed to detect at least two types of target nucleic acid sequences.

According to a preferred embodiment, the at least two type of the target signals corresponding to the at least two types of the target nucleic acid sequences are provided from the same type of labels; wherein the extended duplexes corresponding to the at least two types of the target nucleic acid sequences have different T_(m) values from each other.

III. Target Detection Process by PTOCE Comprising Detection at a Pre-Determined Temperature

The present invention can be modified to utilize a target signal generated in association with the formation of the extended duplex.

In still another aspect of this invention, there is provided a method for detecting a target nucleic acid sequence from a DNA or a mixture of nucleic acids by a PTOCE (PTO Cleavage and Extension) assay, comprising:

-   -   (a) hybridizing the target nucleic acid sequence with an         upstream oligonucleotide and a PTO (Probing and Tagging         Oligonucleotide); wherein the upstream oligonucleotide comprises         a hybridizing nucleotide sequence complementary to the target         nucleic acid sequence; the PTO comprises (i) a 3′-targeting         portion comprising a hybridizing nucleotide sequence         complementary to the target nucleic acid sequence and (ii) a         5′-tagging portion comprising a nucleotide sequence         non-complementary to the target nucleic acid sequence; wherein         the 3′-targeting portion is hybridized with the target nucleic         acid sequence and the 5′-tagging portion is not hybridized with         the target nucleic acid sequence; the upstream oligonucleotide         is located upstream of the PTO;     -   (b) contacting the resultant of the step (a) to an enzyme having         a 5′ nuclease activity under conditions for cleavage of the PTO;         wherein the upstream oligonucleotide or its extended strand         induces cleavage of the PTO by the enzyme having the 5′ nuclease         activity such that the cleavage releases a fragment comprising         the 5′-tagging portion or a part of the 5′-tagging portion of         the PTO;     -   (c) hybridizing the fragment released from the PTO with a CTO         (Capturing and Templating Oligonucleotide); wherein the CTO         comprises in a 3′ to 5′ direction (i) a capturing portion         comprising a nucleotide sequence complementary to the 5′-tagging         portion or a part of the 5′-tagging portion of the PTO and (ii)         a templating portion comprising a nucleotide sequence         non-complementary to the 5′-tagging portion and the 3′-targeting         portion of the PTO; wherein the fragment released from the PTO         is hybridized with the capturing portion of the CTO;     -   (d) performing an extension reaction using the resultant of the         step (c) and a template-dependent nucleic acid polymerase;         wherein the fragment hybridized with the capturing portion of         the CTO is extended to form an extended duplex; wherein the         extended duplex has a T_(m) value adjustable by (i) a sequence         and/or length of the fragment, (ii) a sequence and/or length of         the CTO or (iii) the sequence and/or length of the fragment and         the sequence and/or length of the CTO; wherein the extended         duplex provides a target signal by (i) at least one label linked         to the fragment and/or CTO, (ii) a label incorporated into the         extended duplex during the extension reaction, (iii) at least         one label linked to the fragment and/or CTO and a label         incorporated into the extended duplex during the extension         reaction or (iv) intercalating label; and     -   (e) detecting the extended duplex by measuring the target signal         at a predetermined temperature that the extended duplex         maintains its double-stranded form, whereby the presence of the         extended duplex indicates the presence of the target nucleic         acid sequence.

Since the preferable embodiment of the present invention follows the steps of the present method above-described except for the melting step, the common descriptions between them are omitted in order to avoid undue redundancy leading to the complexity of this specification.

The present invention using a melting analysis described hereinabove requires detection of signals from labels at not less than two different temperatures because the target signal is given by measuring signal change provided in melting of the extended duplex.

Unlikely, in this aspect of this invention, the extended duplex per se gives signal capable of discriminating formation from no-formation of the extended duplex and the signal is detected at a predetermined temperature that the extended duplex maintains its double-stranded form, whereby the presence of a target nucleic acid sequence is determined.

The present invention is to measure a target signal in association with the formation of the extended duplex, for detection of the presence of the target nucleic acid sequence.

In the present invention, the extended duplex has a label such that the extended duplex provides a target signal.

Preferably, the target signal includes a signal (signal generation or signal extinguishment) from the label on the extended duplex at a pre-determined temperature.

The labeling in the present invention may be executed in the same manner as that for the method using a melting analysis described above. FIGS. 2-13 may illustrate this aspect of the present invention with a little modification for detection at a pre-determined temperature.

The working principle underlying a target signal from the extended duplex is as follows: (i) the extension of the fragment induces change of a signal from a label to give the target signal; or

(ii) the hybridization of the fragment and the CTO induces change of a signal from a label to give the target signal and the extended duplex maintains the target signal.

The exemplified embodiment of the working principle (i) may be described with referring to FIG. 9. Where immobilized CTOs are used, the present invention detects a plurality of target nucleic acid sequences in much more effective manner. The templating portion of the immobilized CTO has a reporter molecule and a quencher molecule. The reporter molecule and the quencher molecule are conformationally adjacent to each other to allow the quencher molecule to quench a signal from the reporter molecule. When the fragment is hybridized with the capturing portion of the CTO, the quencher molecule quenches the signal from the reporter molecule. By the formation of the extended duplex, the reporter molecule and the quencher molecule are conformationally separated to allow the quencher molecule to unquench the signal from the reporter molecule. The target signal is given in the extension step (C and D in FIG. 9).

In FIG. 9, the hybrid between the uncleaved PTO and CTO does not form an extended duplex. Therefore, the quencher molecule is allowed to still quench a signal from the reporter molecule. The hybrid does not provide non-target signal.

The exemplified embodiment for the working principle (ii) may be described with referring to FIG. 6. The figure illustrates the present aspect as well as the method using melting analysis. The 5′-tagging portion of the PTO has a reporter molecule and a quencher molecule. The reporter molecule and the quencher molecule are conformationally adjacent to each other to allow the quencher molecule to quench a signal from the reporter molecule. The PTO hybridized with the target nucleic acid sequence is digested to release the fragment comprising the 5′-tagging portion with the reporter molecule and the quencher molecule, and the fragment is hybridized with the capturing portion of the CTO. By the hybridization, the reporter molecule and the quencher molecule are conformationally separated to allow the quencher molecule to unquench the signal from the reporter molecule. The target signal is given in the fragment hybridization step and the extended duplex maintains the target signal (C and D in FIG. 6).

In FIG. 6, the hybrid between the uncleaved PTO and the CTO provides non-target signal (C and D in FIG. 6) and it is necessary to dissociate the hybrid to remove the non-target signal. Therefore, the temperature for measuring the target signal is determined to dissociate the hybrid. According to a preferred embodiment, the temperature is further determined in consideration of hybrid's T_(m) value.

According to a preferred embodiment, the extended duplex may be detected at temperatures that the hybrid is partially dissociated.

The predetermined temperature is higher than the hybrid's T_(m) value minus 10° C., preferably, higher than the hybrid's T_(m) value minus 5° C., more preferably, higher than the hybrid's T_(m) value and still more preferably, higher than the hybrid's T_(m) value plus 5° C.

According to a preferred embodiment, the target signal provided by the extended duplex is given during the extension of the step (d); wherein a hybrid between an uncleaved PTO and the CTO does not provides a non-target signal, as represented in FIGS. 2-4 and 9-11.

According to a embodiment, the target signal provided by the extended duplex is given by the hybridization of the fragment and the CTO in the step (c) and the formation of the extended duplex maintains the target signal in the step (d); wherein a hybrid between an uncleaved PTO and the CTO does provides a non-target signal; wherein the predetermined temperature is sufficient to dissociate the hybrid to remove the non-target signal.

According to a preferred embodiment, the target signal provided by the extended duplex is given by the hybridization of the fragment and the CTO in the step (c) and the formation of the extended duplex maintains the target signal in the step (d); wherein a hybrid between an uncleaved PTO and the CTO provides a non-target signal; wherein the predetermined temperature is higher than the hybrid's T_(m) value, as represented in FIGS. 5-8 and 12-13.

When the hybrid between the uncleaved PTO and CTO provides non-target signal (D in FIG. 6), it is necessary to dissociate the hybrid to remove the non-target signal. Therefore, the temperature for measuring target signal is determined to dissociate the hybrid.

The labeling systems useful in this invention will be described as follows:

(i) Label Linked to the Fragment and/or the CTO (i-1) Interactive Dual Label

In an embodiment of an interactive dual label system, the CTO has an interactive dual label comprising a reporter molecule and a quencher molecule; wherein the extension of the fragment in the step (d) induces change of a signal from the interactive dual label to give the target signal. The first embodiment of the interactive dual label system is illustrated in FIG. 2. The target signal is given with extension-synchronized signal generation.

According to a preferred embodiment, the reporter molecule and the quencher molecule may be located at the templating portion of the CTO.

According to a preferred embodiment, one of the reporter molecule and the quencher molecule on the CTO is located at its 5′-end or at 1-5 nucleotides apart from its 5′-end and the other is located to quench and unquench the signal from the reporter molecule depending on conformation of CTO

In an embodiment of an interactive dual label system, the CTO has an interactive dual label comprising a reporter molecule and a quencher molecule; wherein the hybridization of the fragment and the CTO in the step (c) induces change of a signal from the interactive dual label to give the target signal and the extended duplex maintains the target signal.

According to the preferred embodiment, the reporter molecule and the quencher molecule may be located at the capturing portion of the CTO.

According to the preferred embodiment, one the reporter molecule and the quencher molecule on the CTO is located at its 3′-end or at 1-5 nucleotides apart from its 3′-end and the other is located to quench and unquench the signal from the reporter molecule depending on conformation of CTO.

In this embodiment, the hybrid between the uncleaved PTO and the CTO provides non-target signal; wherein the temperature for measuring the target signal is determined with consideration of the Tm value of the hybrid.

In an embodiment of an interactive dual label system, the fragment has an interactive dual label comprising a reporter molecule and a quencher molecule; wherein the hybridization of the fragment and the CTO in the step (c) induces change of a signal from the interactive dual label to give the target signal and the extended duplex maintains the target signal. The first embodiment of the interactive dual label system is illustrated in FIG. 6.

According to the preferred embodiment, one of the reporter molecule and the quencher molecule on the fragment is located at its 5′-end or at 1-5 nucleotides apart from the 5′-end of the fragment and the other is located to quench the signal from the reporter molecule depending on conformation of the fragment.

In this embodiment, the hybrid between the uncleaved PTO and the CTO provides non-target signal; wherein the temperature for measuring the target signal is determined with consideration of the Tm value of the hybrid.

In an embodiment of the interactive label system, wherein the fragment has one of an interactive dual label comprising a reporter molecule and a quencher molecule and the CTO has the other of the interactive dual label; wherein the hybridization of the fragment and the CTO in the step (c) induces change of a signal from the interactive dual label to give the target signal and the extended duplex maintains the target signal. The embodiment of the interactive dual label system is illustrated in FIG. 8.

The reporter molecule and the quencher molecule may be located at any site of the PTO fragment and the CTO, so long as the signal from the reporter molecule is quenched by the quencher molecule.

According to the embodiment, the reporter molecule or the quencher molecule on the PTO fragment is located, preferably, at its 5′-end.

According to the embodiment, the reporter molecule or the quencher molecule on the CTO is located, preferably, at its 5′-end.

In this embodiment, the hybrid between the uncleaved PTO and the CTO provides non-target signal; wherein the temperature for measuring the target signal is determined with consideration of the Tm value of the hybrid.

(i-2) Single Label

In an embodiment of a single label system, the CTO has a single label and the extension of the fragment in the step (d) induces change of a signal from the single label to give the target signal. The embodiment of the single label system is illustrated in FIG. 3. The target signal is given with extension-synchronized signal generation. According to the embodiment, the templating portion of the CTO is labeled with the single label.

In an embodiment of a single label system, the CTO has a single label and the hybridization of the fragment and the CTO in the step (c) induces change of a signal from the interactive dual label to give the target signal and the extended duplex maintains the target signal.

According to the embodiment, the capturing portion of the CTO is labeled with the single label.

In this embodiment, the hybrid between the uncleaved PTO and the CTO provides non-target signal; wherein the temperature for measuring the target signal is determined with consideration of the Tm value of the hybrid.

In an embodiment of a single label system, the fragment has a single label and the hybridization of the fragment and the CTO in the step (c) induces change of a signal from the interactive dual label to give the target signal and the extended duplex maintains the target signal. The embodiment of the single label system is illustrated in FIG. 12.

In this embodiment, the hybrid between the uncleaved PTO and the CTO provides non-target signal; wherein the temperature for measuring the target signal is determined with consideration of the Tm value of the hybrid.

The single label used herein has to be capable of providing a different signal depending on its presence on double strand or single strand. The single label includes a fluorescent label, a luminescent label, a chemiluminescent label, an electrochemical label and a metal label. Preferably, the single label includes a fluorescent label. The types and preferable binding sites of single fluorescent labels used in this invention are disclosed U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,537,886 and 7,348,141, the teachings of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entity. Preferably, the single fluorescent label includes JOE, FAM, TAMRA, ROX and fluorescein-based label. The labeled nucleotide residue is preferably positioned internal nucleotide residue within the oligonucleotide rather than at the 5′-end or the 3′-end.

The single fluorescent label useful in the present invention may be described with reference to descriptions for reporter and quencher molecules as indicated above.

In particular, where the present invention on a solid phase is performed using a single label, it can utilize a general fluorescent label and does not require a specific fluorescent label capable of providing a fluorescent signal with different intensities depending on its presence on double strand or single strand.

When the CTO immobilized onto a solid substrate is used, chemical labels (e.g. biotin) or enzymatic labels (e.g. alkaline phosphatase, peroxidase, β-galactosidase and β-gluocosidase) may be used.

In a preferred embodiment, the labels linked to the fragment and/or the CTO are positioned to the extent that when a hybrid between an uncleaved PTO and the CTO is formed, the hybrid does not give a non-target signal in the step (d), as represented in FIGS. 2-3 and 9.

Alternatively, the labels may be positioned to the extent that when a hybrid between an uncleaved PTO and the CTO is formed, the hybrid gives a non-target signal in the step (d); wherein the T_(m) value of the extended duplex is higher than that of the hybrid between the uncleaved PTO and the CTO as represented in FIGS. 6-8 and 12.

(ii) Label Incorporated into the Extended Duplex

In particular, where the present invention is carried out in a solid phase using an immobilized CTO, this label system becomes more useful to provide the target signal as illustrated in FIGS. 10 and 11.

According to a preferred embodiment, the target signal is provided by a single label incorporated into the extended duplex during the extension reaction; wherein the incorporated single label is linked to a nucleotide incorporated during the extension reaction; wherein the extension of the fragment in the step (d) induces change of a signal from the single label to give the target signal in the step (d).

According to a preferred embodiment, a nucleotide incorporated during the extension reaction is ddNTP.

According to a preferred embodiment, the nucleotide incorporated during the extension reaction has a first non-natural base and the CTO has a nucleotide having a second non-natural base with a specific binding affinity to the first non-natural base, as illustrated in FIG. 11. The nucleotide having the second non-natural base is preferably located at any site on the templating portion of the CTO.

Where the label incorporated into the extended duplex during the extension reaction is employed, the label is not incorporated into the hybrid between the uncleaved PTO and the CTO because the hybrid is not extended. Therefore, the hybrid does not provide a non-target signal.

(iii) Label Incorporated into the Extended Duplex and Label Linked to the Fragment or the CTO

The present invention may employ a labeling system using cooperation of a label incorporated into the extended duplex during the extension reaction and a label linked to the fragment and/or the CTO, as illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5.

According to a preferred embodiment, the target signal is provided by a label incorporated into the extended duplex during the extension reaction and a label linked to the fragment and/or the CTO; wherein the label incorporated is linked to a nucleotide incorporated during the extension reaction; wherein the two labels are an interactive dual label of a reporter molecule and a quencher molecule; wherein the extension of the fragment in the step (d) induces change of a signal from the interactive dual label to give the target signal.

More preferably, the nucleotide incorporated during the extension reaction has a first non-natural base and the CTO has a nucleotide having a second non-natural base with a specific binding affinity to the first non-natural.

Preferably, the target signal given in the step (e) is a signal from the interactive dual label in the step (d).

Where the label incorporated into the extended duplex during the extension reaction is employed, the label is not incorporated into the hybrid between the uncleaved PTO and the CTO because the hybrid is not extended. Therefore, the hybrid does not provide a non-target signal.

(iv) Intercalating Label

The present invention may employ an intercalating label for providing the target signal indicative of the presence of the extended duplex. The intercalating label is more useful on a solid phase reaction using immobilized CTOs because double-stranded nucleic acid molecules present in samples can generate signals.

The exemplified embodiment is described with reference to FIG. 13. The PTO hybridized with the target nucleic acid sequence is digested to release the fragment. The fragment is hybridized with the CTO. The extension is carried out in the presence of an intercalating dye (e.g., SYBR™ Green) and forms the extended duplex with intercalating dyes.

In FIG. 13, the hybrid between the uncleaved PTO and the CTO provides non-target signal (C and D in FIG. 13) and it is necessary to dissociate the hybrid to remove the non-target signal. Therefore, the temperature for measuring the target signal is determined with consideration of the Tm value of the hybrid.

Preferably, the target signal given in the step (e) is a signal from the intercalated dye.

According to a preferred embodiment, the PTO and/or CTO is blocked at its 3′-end to prohibit its extension.

According to a preferred embodiment, the upstream oligonucleotide is an upstream primer or an upstream probe.

According to a preferred embodiment, the upstream oligonucleotide is located adjacently to the PTO to the extent that the upstream oligonucleotide induces cleavage of the PTO by the enzyme having the 5′ nuclease activity.

According to a preferred embodiment, the upstream primer induces through its extended strand the cleavage of the PTO by the enzyme having the 5′ nuclease activity.

According to a preferred embodiment, the method further comprises repeating the steps (a)-(b), (a)-(d) or (a)-(e) with denaturation between repeating cycles.

According to a preferred embodiment, the steps (a)-(b) and (c)-(e) are performed in a reaction vessel or in separate reaction vessels.

According to a preferred embodiment, the method is performed to detect at least two types of target nucleic acid sequences; wherein the upstream oligonucleotide comprises at least two types of oligonucleotides, the PTO comprises at least two types of the PTOs, and the CTO comprises at least one type of the CTOs; wherein when at least two types of the target nucleic acid sequences are present, the method provides at least two types of the target signals corresponding to the at least two types of the target nucleic acid sequences.

According to a preferred embodiment, the upstream oligonucleotide is an upstream primer and the step (b) uses a template-dependent nucleic acid polymerase for the extension of the upstream primer.

According to a preferred embodiment, the CTO is immobilized through its 5′-end or 3′-end onto a solid substrate and the target signal provided on the solid substrate is measured.

According to a preferred embodiment, the target signal is provided by a single label linked to the fragment or by a sing label incorporated into the extended duplex during the extension reaction.

According to a preferred embodiment, the method is performed in the presence of a downstream primer.

The detection of the step (e) may be performed in a real-time manner, an end-point manner, or a predetermined time interval manner. Where the present invention further comprises repeating the steps (a)-(b), (a)-(d) or (a)-(e), it is preferred that the signal detection is performed for each cycle of the repetition at a predetermined temperature (i.e. real-time manner), at the end of the repetition at a predetermined temperature (i.e. end-point manner) or at each of predetermined time intervals during the repetition at a predetermined temperature. Preferably, the detection may be performed for each cycle of the repetition in a real-time manner to improve the detection accuracy and quantification.

IV. Target Detection Process by PTOCE Assay Based on Upstream Oligonucleotide-Independent 5′ Nuclease Activity.

In a further aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for detecting a target nucleic acid sequence from a DNA or a mixture of nucleic acids by a PTOCE (PTO Cleavage and Extension) assay, comprising:

(a) hybridizing the target nucleic acid sequence with a PTO (Probing and Tagging Oligonucleotide); wherein the PTO comprises (i) a 3′-targeting portion comprising a hybridizing nucleotide sequence complementary to the target nucleic acid sequence and (ii) a 5′-tagging portion comprising a nucleotide sequence non-complementary to the target nucleic acid sequence; wherein the 3′-targeting portion is hybridized with the target nucleic acid sequence and the 5′-tagging portion is not hybridized with the target nucleic acid sequence;

(b) contacting the resultant of the step (a) to an enzyme having a 5′ nuclease activity under conditions for cleavage of the PTO; wherein the PTO is cleaved by the enzyme having the 5′ nuclease activity such that the cleavage releases a fragment comprising the 5′-tagging portion or a part of the 5′-tagging portion of the PTO;

(c) hybridizing the fragment released from the PTO with a CTO (Capturing and Templating Oligonucleotide); wherein the CTO comprises in a 3′ to 5′ direction (i) a capturing portion comprising a nucleotide sequence complementary to the 5′-tagging portion or a part of the 5′-tagging portion of the PTO and (ii) a templating portion comprising a nucleotide sequence non-complementary to the 5′-tagging portion and the 3′-targeting portion of the PTO; wherein the fragment released from the PTO is hybridized with the capturing portion of the CTO;

(d) performing an extension reaction using the resultant of the step (c) and a template-dependent nucleic acid polymerase; wherein the fragment hybridized with the capturing portion of the CTO is extended and an extended duplex is formed; wherein the extended duplex has a T_(m) value adjustable by (i) a sequence and/or length of the fragment, (ii) a sequence and/or length of the CTO or (iii) the sequence and/or length of the fragment and the sequence and/or length of the CTO;

(e) melting the extended duplex over a range of temperatures to give a target signal indicative of the presence of the extended duplex; wherein the target signal is provided by (i) at least one label linked to the fragment and/or the CTO, (ii) a label incorporated into the extended duplex during the extension reaction, (iii) a label incorporated into the extended duplex during the extension reaction and a label linked to the fragment and/or the CTO, or (iv) an intercalating label; and

(f) detecting the extended duplex by measuring the target signal; whereby the presence of the extended duplex indicates the presence of the target nucleic acid sequence.

In a still further aspect of this invention, there is provided a method for detecting a target nucleic acid sequence from a DNA or a mixture of nucleic acids by a PTOCE (PTO Cleavage and Extension) assay, comprising:

(a) hybridizing the target nucleic acid sequence with a PTO (Probing and Tagging Oligonucleotide); wherein the PTO comprises (i) a 3′-targeting portion comprising a hybridizing nucleotide sequence complementary to the target nucleic acid sequence and (ii) a 5′-tagging portion comprising a nucleotide sequence non-complementary to the target nucleic acid sequence; wherein the 3′-targeting portion is hybridized with the target nucleic acid sequence and the 5′-tagging portion is not hybridized with the target nucleic acid sequence;

(b) contacting the resultant of the step (a) to an enzyme having a 5′ nuclease activity under conditions for cleavage of the PTO; wherein the PTO is cleaved by the enzyme having the 5′ nuclease activity such that the cleavage releases a fragment comprising the 5′-tagging portion or a part of the 5′-tagging portion of the PTO;

(c) hybridizing the fragment released from the PTO with a CTO (Capturing and Templating Oligonucleotide); wherein the CTO comprises in a 3′ to 5′ direction (i) a capturing portion comprising a nucleotide sequence complementary to the 5′-tagging portion or a part of the 5′-tagging portion of the PTO and (ii) a templating portion comprising a nucleotide sequence non-complementary to the 5′-tagging portion and the 3′-targeting portion of the PTO; wherein the fragment released from the PTO is hybridized with the capturing portion of the CTO;

(d) performing an extension reaction using the resultant of the step (c) and a template-dependent nucleic acid polymerase; wherein the fragment hybridized with the capturing portion of the CTO is extended to form an extended duplex; wherein the extended duplex has a T_(m) value adjustable by (i) a sequence and/or length of the fragment, (ii) a sequence and/or length of the CTO or (iii) the sequence and/or length of the fragment and the sequence and/or length of the CTO; wherein the extended duplex provides a target signal by (i) at least one label linked to the fragment and/or CTO, (ii) a label incorporated into the extended duplex during the extension reaction, (iii) at least one label linked to the fragment and/or CTO and a label incorporated into the extended duplex during the extension reaction or (iv) intercalating label; and

(e) detecting the extended duplex by measuring the target signal at a predetermined temperature that the extended duplex maintains its double-stranded form, whereby the presence of the extended duplex indicates the presence of the target nucleic acid sequence.

Since the present method based on upstream oligonucleotide-independent 5′ nuclease activity is the same as those by the PTOCE assay using upstream oligonucleotides except for no use of upstream oligonucleotides, the common descriptions between them are omitted in order to avoid undue redundancy leading to the complexity of this specification.

Interestingly, the present method based on upstream oligonucleotide-independent 5′ nuclease activity practically provides target signals by the PTOCE assay even no use of upstream oligonucleotides (see FIGS. 35A and 35B).

For the present method, conventional enzymes having upstream oligonucleotide-independent 5′ nuclease activity may be used. Among template-dependent polymerases having 5′ nuclease activity, there are several enzymes having upstream oligonucleotide-independent 5′ nuclease activity, e.g., Taq DNA polymerase.

Considering amplification of target nucleic acid sequences and cleavage efficiency of the PTO, the PTOCE assay of the present invention is preferably performed using upstream oligonucleotides.

V. Nucleotide Variation Detection Process by a PTOCE Assay

In a further aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for detecting a nucleotide variation on a target nucleic acid sequence by a PTOCE (PTO Cleavage and Extension) assay, comprising:

(a) hybridizing the target nucleic acid sequence with an upstream oligonucleotide and a PTO-NV (Probing and Tagging Oligonucleotide for Nucleotide Variation); wherein the upstream oligonucleotide comprises a hybridizing nucleotide sequence complementary to the target nucleic acid sequence; the PTO-NV comprises (i) a 3′-targeting portion comprising a hybridizing nucleotide sequence complementary to the target nucleic acid sequence, (ii) a 5′-tagging portion comprising a nucleotide sequence non-complementary to the target nucleic acid sequence, and (iii) a nucleotide variation discrimination site, comprising a complementary sequence to the nucleotide variation on the target nucleic acid, positioned on a 5′-end part of the 3′-targeting portion; wherein the 3′-targeting portion is hybridized with the target nucleic acid sequence and the 5′-tagging portion is not hybridized with the target nucleic acid sequence; the upstream oligonucleotide is located upstream of the PTO-NV; the upstream oligonucleotide or its extended strand induces cleavage of the PTO-NV by an enzyme having a 5′ nuclease activity;

(b) contacting the resultant of the step (a) to an enzyme having a 5′ nuclease activity under conditions for cleavage of the PTO-NV; wherein when the PTO-NV is hybridized with the target nucleic acid sequence having the nucleotide variation complementary to the nucleotide variation discrimination site, and the 5′-end part of the 3′-targeting portion forms a double strand with the target nucleic acid sequence to induce cleavage from a first initial cleavage site, a first fragment is released; wherein when the PTO-NV is hybridized with a target nucleic acid sequence having a nucleotide variation non-complementary to the nucleotide variation discrimination site, and the 5′-end part of the 3′-targeting portion does not form a double strand with the target nucleic acid sequence to induce cleavage from a second initial cleavage site located downstream of the first initial cleavage site, a second fragment is released; wherein the second fragment comprises an additional 3′-end portion allowing the second fragment different from the first fragment;

(c) hybridizing the fragment released from the PTO-NV with a CTO (Capturing and Templating Oligonucleotide); wherein the CTO comprises in a 3′ to 5′ direction (i) a capturing portion comprising a nucleotide sequence complementary to the 5′-tagging portion or a part of the 5′-tagging portion of the PTO-NV and (ii) a templating portion comprising a nucleotide sequence non-complementary to the 5′-tagging portion and the 3′-targeting portion of the PTO-NV; wherein the first fragment or the second fragment released from the PTO-NV is hybridized with the capturing portion of the CTO;

(d) performing an extension reaction using the resultant of the step (c) and a template-dependent nucleic acid polymerase; wherein when the first fragment is hybridized with the capturing portion of the CTO, it is extended to form an extended strand comprising a extended sequence complementary to the templating portion of the CTO; wherein when the second fragment is hybridized with the capturing portion of the CTO, it is not extended; and

(e) detecting the presence of the extended strand, whereby the presence of the extended strand indicates the presence of the nucleotide variation complementary to the nucleotide discrimination site of the PTO-NV.

The present inventors have made intensive researches to develop novel approaches to detect nucleotide variations with more improved accuracy and convenience, inter alia, in a multiplex manner. As a result, we have established novel protocols for detection of nucleotide variations, in which nucleotide variation detection is accomplished by probe hybridization, enzymatic probe cleavage, extension and detection of an extended strand. Particularly, we intriguingly have rendered the probe cleavage site to be adjustable depending on the presence and absence of nucleotide variations of interest and the fragments released by cleavage in different sites are distinguished by the ability of extension on an artificial template. The present protocols are well adopted to liquid phase reactions as well as solid phase reactions, and ensure detection of multiple nucleotide variations with more improved accuracy and convenience.

The present invention employs successive events followed by probe hybridization; cleavage of PTO-NV (Probing and Tagging Oligonucleotide for Nucleotide Variation) and extension; formation of a nucleotide variation-dependent extended strand; and detection of the extended strand. Therefore, it is named as VD-PTOCE (Variation Detection by PTO Cleavage and Extension) assay.

According to a preferred embodiment, the nucleotide variation detected by the present invention is a substitution variation, a deletion variation or an insertion variation, more preferably a variation by a single nucleotide such as SNP.

In the present application, a target nucleic acid sequence having a nucleotide variation complementary to the nucleotide variation discrimination site of the PTO-NV is also described as “match template”. A target nucleic acid sequence having a nucleotide variation non-complementary to the nucleotide variation discrimination site of the PTO is also described as “mismatch template”.

According to a preferred embodiment, the term “non-complementary” in conjunction with a nucleotide variation non-complementary to the nucleotide variation discrimination site is used herein to encompass non-complementarity due to insertion or deletion.

The VD-PTOCE assay of the present invention uses the PTO-NV having the nucleotide variation discrimination site positioned on the 5′-end part of the 3′-targeting portion for selectivity of the PTO to a specific nucleotide variation. Where the PTO-NV is hybridized with the target nucleic acid sequence (i.e., match template) having the nucleotide variation complementary to the nucleotide variation discrimination site, the 5′-end part of the 3′-targeting portion forms a double strand with the match template; however, where the PTO-NV is hybridized with a target nucleic acid sequence (i.e., mismatch template) having a nucleotide variation non-complementary to the nucleotide variation discrimination site, the 5′-end part of the 3′-targeting portion does not form a double strand with the mismatch template.

It is noteworthy that such distinct hybridization patterns on the nucleotide variation of interest are responsible for differences in initial cleavage sites of the PTO-NV, thereby producing two types of PTO-NV fragments to give signal differentiation depending on the presence of the nucleotide variation of interest.

A first fragment is generated by cleavage of hybrid between the PTO and matching template. A second fragment is generated by cleavage of hybrid between the PTO and mismatching template. The second fragment comprises further nucleotides in its 3′-end portion than the first fragment.

The production of either the first fragment or the second fragment may be distinctly detected by an extension reaction on the CTO.

Generally, the hybridization between a 3′-end part of primers and a template is very crucial to extension of primers in a stringent condition. In the present invention, the first fragment and the second fragment each is hybridized with the same site of the CTO. As described above, the second fragment comprises the additional 3′-end portion compared with the first fragment. By adjusting hybridization conditions and a sequence of the CTO opposed to the additional 3′-end portion of the second fragment, only the first fragment may be permitted to extend.

According to a preferred embodiment, the CTO has a sequence selected such that the CTO is not hybridized with the additional 3′-end portion of the second fragment to prevent the second fragment from extension when the second fragment is hybridized with the capturing portion of the CTO.

According to a preferred embodiment, the sequence of the CTO opposed to the additional 3′-end portion of the second fragment is non-complementary to the additional 3′-end portion.

The production of the extended strand by extension of the first fragment may be detected by a variety of methods.

According to conventional technologies using 5′ nuclease activities for detection of nucleotide variations, hybridization of probes used is determined or affected by a whole sequence of a probe. In such conventional technologies, probe design and construction, and optimization of reaction conditions are very troublesome as hybridization of probes dependent on the presence of nucleotide variations is compelled to be mainly determined by difference by one nucleotide.

According to the VD-PTOCE assay, a nucleotide variation discrimination site is positioned on a 5′-end part of a hybridization-involving portion of probes, enabling optimization of hybridization conditions to be convenient. In addition, the VD-PTOCE assay differentially detects a nucleotide variation by a local portion of probes rather than a whole sequence of probes, such that the difference by even one nucleotide such as SNPs may be accurately detected.

It has been known to one of skill in the art that a probe sequence adjacent to a sequence opposed to a SNP extremely affects probe hybridization. The conventional probes have a sequence opposed to a SNP generally in their middle portion. In this regard, the conventional probes may not select a surrounding sequence around a SNP involved in hybridization. The conventional technologies have serious limitations due to surrounding sequences to SNPs.

Unlikely, in the present invention, the nucleotide variation discrimination site opposed to a SNP is positioned on a 5′-end part of a hybridization-involving portion of probes, such that a sequence of probes to a SNP 5′-adjacent sequence becomes adjustable. Because the influences of a surrounding sequence around a SNP on hybridization are accurately controlled in the present invention, it becomes true to analyze SNPs not or little detectable by conventional technologies due to the influences of a surrounding sequence around a SNP.

The VD-PTOCE assay of the present invention will be described in more detail as follows:

Since the VD-PTOCE assay of the present invention is based on cleavage of PTO and extension of PTO fragment on CTO as the PTOCE assay described above, the common descriptions between them are omitted in order to avoid undue redundancy leading to the complexity of this specification.

Step (a): Hybridization of an Upstream Oligonucleotide and a PTO-NV with a Target Nucleic Acid Sequence

According to the present invention, a target nucleic acid sequence is first hybridized with an upstream oligonucleotide and a PTO-NV (Probing and Tagging Oligonucleotide for Nucleotide Variation).

The term used herein “PTO-NV (Probing and Tagging Oligonucleotide for Nucleotide Variation)” means an oligonucleotide comprising (i) a 3′-targeting portion serving as a probe, (ii) a 5′-tagging portion with a nucleotide sequence non-complementary to the target nucleic acid sequence, and (iii) a nucleotide variation discrimination site, comprising a complementary sequence to the nucleotide variation on the target nucleic acid, positioned on a 5′-end part of the 3′-targeting portion. The 5′-tagging portion is nucleolytically released from the PTO after hybridization with the target nucleic acid sequence. The 5′-tagging portion and the 3′-targeting portion in the PTO have to be positioned in a 5′ to 3′ order. The PTO-NV is schematically illustrated in FIG. 25. The PTO-NV may be appreciated as one application form of the PTO for detection of nucleotide variations, which is constructed by introduction of the nucleotide variation discrimination site into the 5′-end part of the 3′-targting portion.

The PTO-NV comprises the nucleotide variation discrimination site comprising a complementary sequence to the nucleotide variation positioned on a 5′-end part of the 3′-targeting portion.

Where the PTO-NV is hybridized with the target nucleic acid sequence having the nucleotide variation complementary to the variation discrimination site, the 5′-end part of the 3′-targeting portion forms a double strand with the target nucleic acid sequence. Where the PTO-NV is hybridized with a target nucleic acid sequence having a nucleotide variation non-complementary to the variation discrimination site, the 5′-end part of the 3′-targeting portion does not form a double strand with the target nucleic acid sequence. Such distinct hybridization patterns on the nucleotide variation of interest are responsible for differences in cleavage sites of the PTO-NV, thereby producing two types of PTO-NV fragments to give signal differentiation depending on the presence of the nucleotide variation of interest. The 5′-end part of the 3′-targeting portion of the PTO-NV may be also described as a single strand-forming 5′-end portion of the 3′-targeting portion of the PTO-NV when hybridized with a target nucleic acid sequence having a nucleotide variation non-complementary to the variation discrimination site.

The nucleotide variation discrimination site positioned on a 5′-end part of the 3′-targeting portion of the PTO-NV comprises a complementary sequence to the nucleotide variation. For instance, where a nucleotide variation to be detected is a SNP, the nucleotide variation discrimination site comprises a complementary nucleotide to the SNP.

According to a preferred embodiment, the nucleotide variation discrimination site is located within 10 nucleotides, more preferably 8 nucleotides, still more preferably 6 nucleotides, still much more preferably 4 nucleotides, 3 nucleotides, 2 nucleotides or 1 nucleotide apart from the 5′-end of the 3′-targeting portion of the PTO-NV. Preferably, the nucleotide variation discrimination site is located at the 5′-end of the 3′-targeting portion of the PTO-NV.

The location of the nucleotide variation discrimination site may be determined in consideration of sequences to be detected, type of nucleases and reaction conditions.

The term “site” with reference to either nucleotide variation discrimination site of probes or nucleotide variation site on target sequences is used herein to encompass not only a single nucleotide but also a plurality of nucleotides.

Preferably, the hybridization in step (a) is preformed under stringent conditions that the 3′-targeting portion is hybridized with the target nucleic acid sequence and the 5′-tagging portion is not hybridized with the target nucleic acid sequence.

According to a preferred embodiment, the PTO-NV and/or CTO is blocked at its 3′-end to prohibit its extension.

According to a preferred embodiment, the upstream oligonucleotide is an upstream primer or an upstream probe.

According to a preferred embodiment, the upstream oligonucleotide is located adjacently to the PTO-NV to the extent that the upstream oligonucleotide induces cleavage of the PTO-NV by the enzyme having the 5′ nuclease activity.

According to a preferred embodiment, the upstream primer induces through its extended strand the cleavage of the PTO-NV by the enzyme having the 5′ nuclease activity.

Step (b): Release of a Fragment from the PTO-NV

Afterwards, the resultant of the step (a) is contacted to an enzyme having a 5′ nuclease activity under conditions for cleavage of the PTO-NV.

Where the PTO-NV is hybridized with the target nucleic acid sequence (i.e., match template) having the nucleotide variation complementary to the variation discrimination site, and the 5′-end part of the 3′-targeting portion forms a double strand with the target nucleic acid sequence to induce cleavage from a first initial cleavage site, a first fragment is released (see FIG. 25).

Where the PTO-NV is hybridized with a target nucleic acid sequence (i.e., mismatch template) having a nucleotide variation non-complementary to the variation discrimination site, and the 5′-end part of the 3′-targeting portion does not form a double strand with the target nucleic acid sequence to induce cleavage from a second initial cleavage site located downstream of the first initial cleavage site, a second fragment is released; wherein the second fragment comprises an additional 3′-end portion allowing the second fragment different from the first fragment (see FIG. 25).

Where the target nucleic acid sequence is not present in a sample, the cleavage of the PTO-NV does not occur.

As such, differences in cleavage sites and types of PTO-NV fragments generated result in different extension patterns depending on the presence and absence of the nucleotide variation of interest on the target nucleic acid sequence, contributing to differential detection of the nucleotide variation on the target nucleic acid sequence.

An initial cleavage site of the PTO-NV is affected by the type of 5′ nucleases, the type of upstream oligonucleotides (upstream probe or upstream primer), hybridization sites of upstream oligonucleotides and cleavage conditions.

An initial cleavage site by template dependent polymerase having 5′ nuclease activity with extension of upstream primers is generally positioned in a 5′ to 3′ direction at an initial nucleotide of a double strand (i.e., bifurcation site) in structures including a single strand and a double strand or at 1-2 nucleotides apart from the initial nucleotide. By the cleavage reaction, fragments comprising the 5′-tagging portion and a part of the 3′-targeting portion are produced. Where the present invention is performed by upstream oligonucleotide extension-independent cleavage induction, the cleavage site of the PTO-NV may be adjusted by location of upstream oligonucleotides (e.g. upstream probe).

The term used herein “a first initial cleavage site” in conjunction with the PTO-NV means to a cleavage site of the PTO-NV being firstly cleaved when the PTO-NV is hybridized with the target nucleic acid sequence having the nucleotide variation complementary to the variation discrimination site. The term used herein “a second initial cleavage site” in conjunction with the PTO-NV means to a cleavage site of the PTO-NV being firstly cleaved when the PTO-NV is hybridized with a target nucleic acid sequence having a nucleotide variation non-complementary to the variation discrimination site.

The term used herein “a first fragment” refers to a fragment produced upon cleavage at the first initial cleavage site. The term is used interchangeably with “a first segment” and “a PTO-NV first fragment”. The term herein “a second fragment” refers to a fragment produced upon cleavage at the second initial cleavage site. The term is used interchangeably with “a second segment” and “a PTO-NV second fragment”.

Preferably, the first fragment and the second fragment each comprises the 5′-tagging portion or a part of the 5′-tagging portion.

The cleavage may successively occur after the cleavage of the first initial cleavage site (or the second initial cleavage site) depending on cleavage methods used. For instance, where a 5′ nuclease cleavage reaction together with extension of upstream primers is used, the initial cleavage site and its successive sequence are cleaved. Where an upstream probe is used and the cleavage reaction occurs at a site apart from a location site of the probe, the cleavage reaction may occur only at the site and cleavage at successive sites may not occur.

According to a preferred embodiment, an initial cleavage site dependent on extension of upstream primers may be positioned in a 5′ to 3′ direction at an initial nucleotide of a double strand (i.e., bifurcation site).

As shown in FIG. 25 representing an example of the present invention, the nucleotide variation discrimination site is positioned at the 5′-end of the 5′-end part of the 3′-targeting portion. In such case, the first initial cleavage site is positioned immediately adjacent, in a 5′ to 3′ direction, to the 5′-end part of the 3′-targeting portion. In other words, the first initial cleavage site is positioned immediately adjacent, in a 3′ direction, to the nucleotide variation discrimination site. The second initial cleavage site is generally positioned at 1 nucleotide apart, in a 3′ direction, from the nucleotide variation discrimination site.

As shown in FIG. 26 representing another example of the present invention, the nucleotide variation discrimination site is positioned at 1 nucleotide apart from the 5′-end of the 5′-end part of the 3′-targeting portion. In such case, the first initial cleavage site is positioned immediately adjacent, in a 5′ direction, to the nucleotide variation discrimination site. The second initial cleavage site is generally positioned at 1 nucleotide apart, in a 3′ direction, from the nucleotide variation discrimination site.

The 5′-end part comprising the nucleotide variation discrimination site may be composed of a hybridizable sequence with the target nucleic acid sequence. Alternatively, the 5′-end part may partially comprise a non-hybridizable sequence (see FIG. 27). The introduction of a non-hybridizable sequence into the 5′-end part is very advantageous over single strand formation of the 5′-end part when the PTO-NV is hybridized with a target nucleic acid sequence having a nucleotide variation non-complementary to the nucleotide variation discrimination site.

According to a preferred embodiment, the 5′-end part of the 3′-targeting portion of the PTO-NV comprises a non-base pairing moiety located within 1-10 nucleotides (more preferably 1-5 nucleotides) apart from the nucleotide variation discrimination site.

The non-base pairing moiety prevents the 5′-end part of the 3′-targeting portion from formation of a double strand with the target nucleotide sequence when the PTO-NV is hybridized with the target nucleic acid sequence having the nucleotide variation non-complementary to the variation discrimination site.

According to a preferred embodiment, the non-base pairing moiety does not inhibit the formation of a double strand between the 5′-end part and the target nucleic acid sequence when the PTO-NV is hybridized with the target nucleic acid sequence having the nucleotide variation complementary to the nucleotide variation discrimination site.

According to an embodiment, the non-base pairing moiety enhances differentiation between the first initial cleavage site and the second initial cleavage site. For instance, where the cleavage sites do not become differentiated in a match template and mismatch template by difference in the variation discrimination site due to no difference in hybridization patterns of the 5′-end part of the 3′-targeting portion of the PTO-NV, the use of the non-base pairing moiety renders the hybridization patterns to become differentiated. In addition, even when the 5′-end part of the 3′-targeting portion of the PTO-NV shows different hybridization patterns in a match template and mismatch template by difference in the variation discrimination site, the use of the non-base pairing moiety enables to give much longer 3′-end portion of the second fragment than that of the first fragment, thereby completely preventing extension of the second fragment on the CTO.

The use of the non-base paring moiety improve VD-PTOCE assay.

According to a preferred embodiment, the use of the non-base pairing moiety (e.g., artificial mismatch nucleotide) enhances discrimination potential of the PTO-NV to nucleotide variations.

According to an embodiment, the differential recognition by the enzyme having the 5′ nuclease activity between the first initial cleavage site and the second initial cleavage site is improved by the differentiation imposed by the non-base pairing moiety. The differentiation may be enhanced by the distance between the first initial cleavage site and the second initial cleavage site caused by the non-base pairing moiety. According to a preferred embodiment, the non-base pairing moiety widens the distance between the first initial cleavage site and the second initial cleavage site.

According to a preferred embodiment, the introduction of a non-base paring moiety sequence enables the second initial cleavage site to be adjusted.

Preferably, the non-base pairing moiety is located downstream of the nucleotide variation discrimination site.

For example, where a mismatch nucleotide as a non-base pairing moiety is introduced into a position 2 nucleotides apart, in a 3′ direction, from the nucleotide variation discrimination site, the second initial cleavage site is adjusted to a position 2 nucleotides apart from the nucleotide variation discrimination site (see FIG. 27). In case of not using the mismatch nucleotide, the second initial cleavage site is positioned 1 nucleotide apart from the nucleotide variation discrimination site. That is to say, the non-base pairing moiety may widen the distance between the first initial cleavage site and the second initial cleavage site.

The non-base pairing moiety includes any moieties not forming a base pair between target nucleic acid sequences. Preferably, the non-base pairing moiety is (i) a nucleotide comprising an artificial mismatch base, a non-base pairing base modified to be incapable of base pairing or a universal base, (ii) a non-base pairing nucleotide modified to be incapable of base pairing, or (iii) a non-base pairing chemical compound.

For example, the non-base pairing moiety includes alkylene group, ribofuranosyl naphthalene, deoxy ribofuranosyl naphthalene, metaphosphate, phosphorothioate linkage, alkyl phosphotriester linkage, aryl phosphotriester linkage, alkyl phosphonate linkage, aryl phosphonate linkage, hydrogen phosphonate linkage, alkyl phosphoroamidate linkage and aryl phosphoroamidate linkage. Conventional carbon spacers are also used as non-base pairing moieties. Universal bases as non-base pairing moieties are useful in adjusting cleavage sites of the PTO-NV.

As base pairs containing universal bases such as deoxyinosine, 1-(2′-deoxy-beta-D-ribofuranosyl)-3-nitropyrrole and 5-nitroindole have a lower binding strength than those between natural bases, universal bases may be employed as non-base pairing moieties under certain hybridization conditions.

The non-base pairing moiety introduced into the 5′-end part has preferably 1-5, more preferably 1-2 moieties. A plurality of non-base pairing moieties in the 5′-end part may be present in a consecutive or intermittent manner. Preferably, the non-base pairing moiety has 2-5 consecutive moieties.

Preferably, the non-base pairing moiety is a non-base pairing chemical compound.

According to a preferred embodiment, the nucleotide variation discrimination site and the non-base pairing moiety of the PTO-NV are located within 10 nucleotides (more preferably 8 nucleotides, 7 nucleotides, 6 nucleotides, 5 nucleotides, 4 nucleotides, 3 nucleotides, 2 nucleotides or 1 nucleotide, still more preferably 1 nucleotide) apart from the 5′-end of the 3′-targeting portion.

Alternatively, the cleavage reaction may be executed only at the first initial cleavage site not at the second initial cleavage site. For instance, where an upstream probe is used and the cleavage reaction occurs at a site apart from a location site of the probe, the cleavage reaction may occur only at the first initial cleavage site when the PTO-NV is hybridized with the match template. When the PTO-NV is hybridized with the mismatch template, the bifurcation site (the second initial cleavage site) may not be cleaved because of a long distance from the upstream probe.

According to a preferred embodiment, where PTO-NV is hybridized with the mismatch template, the second initial cleavage site comprises an initial site of a double strand (i.e., bifurcation site) in structures including a single strand and a double strand.

According to an embodiment, the PTO-NV has a blocker portion containing as a blocker at least one nucleotide resistant to cleavage by the enzyme having 5′ nuclease activity and the blocker portion is positioned to control the initial cleavage site or prevent the cleavage at a site or sites.

Step (c): Hybridization of the Fragment Released from the PTO with CTO

The fragment released from the PTO is hybridized with a CTO (Capturing and Templating Oligonucleotide).

The first fragment and the second fragment have commonly a hybridizable sequence with the capturing portion of the CTO and thus one of them is hybridized with the CTO.

The second fragment produced when hybridized with the mismatch template comprises an additional 3′-end portion being different from the first fragment produced when hybridized with the match template.

According to a preferred embodiment, the CTO has a sequence selected such that the CTO is not hybridized with the additional 3′-end portion of the second fragment to prevent the second fragment from extension when the second fragment is hybridized with the capturing portion of the CTO. For example, the sequence of the CTO may be selected such that the CTO has a mismatch nucleotide(s) opposed to the additional 3′-end portion of the second fragment. Alternatively, universal bases may be used instead of the mismatch nucleotide depending on reaction conditions.

The first initial cleavage site (or the second initial cleavage site) may not be fixed but rather multiple in a condition. For example, initial cleavage sites may be positioned in a 5′ to 3′ direction at an initial nucleotide of a double strand (i.e., bifurcation site) in structures including a single strand and a double strand and 1-2 nucleotides apart from the initial nucleotide. In such case, preferably, the sequence of the CTO is selected such that the shortest fragment released by the first initial cleavage is selectively extended in the present invention to generate the extended strand indicative of the presence of the nucleotide variation.

Step (d): Extension of the Fragment

When the first fragment is hybridized with the capturing portion of the CTO, it is extended to form an extended strand comprising an extended sequence complementary to the templating portion of the CTO. When the second fragment is hybridized with the capturing portion of the CTO, it is not extended.

Generally, the extension of primers may be controlled by hybridization between a 3′-end part of primers and a template. By adjusting primer sequences and reaction conditions (e.g. annealing temperature), the extension of primers having at their 3′-end part 1-3 mismatch nucleotides is allowable. Alternatively, the extension of primers may be allowable only when they have perfectly complementary sequence to target sequences.

According to a preferred embodiment, the sequence of the CTO is selected that either the first fragment or the second fragment is selectively extended.

According to a preferred embodiment, the extension of the fragment is carried out under conditions such that the extension does not occur even when a single mismatch is present at the 3′-end part of the fragment.

Step (e): Detection of the Extended Strand

The extended strand is detected after the extension reaction. The presence of the extended strand indicates the presence of the nucleotide variation complementary to the nucleotide discrimination site of the PTO-NV.

According to a preferred embodiment, the detection in the step (e) is carried out in accordance with the PTOCE assay comprising melting analysis or the PTOCE comprising detection at a pre-determined temperature using signals from the extended duplex between the extended strand and the CTO described above.

According to a preferred embodiment, the extended strand of the first fragment and the CTO form an extended duplex in the step (d); wherein the extended duplex has a T_(m) value adjustable by (i) a sequence and/or length of the first fragment, (ii) a sequence and/or length of the CTO or (iii) the sequence and/or length of the first fragment and the sequence and/or length of the CTO; wherein the extended duplex provides a target signal by (i) at least one label linked to the first fragment and/or CTO, (ii) a label incorporated into the extended duplex during the extension reaction, (iii) at least one label linked to the first fragment and/or CTO and a label incorporated into the extended duplex during the extension reaction or (iv) intercalating label; and wherein the presence of the extended strand is detected by measuring the target signal from the extended duplex in accordance with a melting analysis or a hybridization analysis for the extended duplex.

According to a preferred embodiment, the extended strand of the first fragment and the CTO form an extended duplex in the step (d); wherein the extended duplex has a T_(m) value adjustable by (i) a sequence and/or length of the first fragment, (ii) a sequence and/or length of the CTO or (iii) the sequence and/or length of the first fragment and the sequence and/or length of the CTO; wherein the extended duplex provides a target signal by (i) at least one label linked to the first fragment and/or CTO, (ii) a label incorporated into the extended duplex during the extension reaction, (iii) at least one label linked to the first fragment and/or CTO and a label incorporated into the extended duplex during the extension reaction or (iv) intercalating label; and wherein the presence of the extended strand is detected by measuring the target signal from the extended duplex at a pre-determined temperature sufficient to maintain a double strand of the extended duplex.

According to a preferred embodiment, the extended strand of the first fragment may be detected by measuring signals generated from cleavage of labeled probes hybridized with the CTO in extension of the first fragment.

According to a preferred embodiment, the extended strand of the first fragment may be detected on the basis of either the size or sequence of the extended strand. For example, the extended strand can be detected by using an electrophoresis or a mass analysis (e.g., electron impact (EI), chemical ionization (CI), Field Desoption (FD), 252Cf-Plasma desoprtion (PD), desoprtion chemical ionization (DCI), secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS), fast atom bombardment (FAB), electrospray ionization (ESI), matrix-assisted laser desoprtion ionization (MALDI) and Tandem Mass Spectrometry).

According to a preferred embodiment, the present method further comprises repeating all or some of the steps (a)-(e) with denaturation between repeating cycles.

According to a preferred embodiment, the method is performed to detect at least two types of nucleotides variations; wherein the upstream oligonucleotide comprises at least two types of oligonucleotides and the PTO-NV comprises at least two types of the PTO-NVs.

According to a preferred embodiment, the upstream oligonucleotide is an upstream primer and the step (b) uses a template-dependent nucleic acid polymerase for the extension of the upstream primer; wherein the template-dependent nucleic acid polymerase is the same as the enzyme having the 5′ nuclease activity.

According to a preferred embodiment, the upstream oligonucleotide is an upstream primer and the step (b) uses a template-dependent nucleic acid polymerase for the extension of the upstream primer; wherein the template-dependent nucleic acid polymerase is different from the enzyme having the 5′ nuclease activity.

According to a preferred embodiment, the enzyme having the 5′ nuclease activity is a thermostable DNA polymerase having a 5′ nuclease activity or FEN nuclease.

According to a preferred embodiment, the method is performed in the presence of a downstream primer.

The present method may be carried out with the PCR clamping method using PNA in which the PNA and PTO-NV used may be designed to be hybridized with the same strand in a DNA double strand or different strands from each other.

According to an embodiment, the present invention may be performed with no help of upstream oligonucleotides. In such case, conventional enzymes having upstream oligonucleotide-independent 5° nuclease activity may be used. Among template-dependent polymerases having 5′ nuclease activity, there are several enzymes having upstream oligonucleotide-independent 5′ nuclease activity, e.g., Taq DNA polymerase.

Considering amplification of target nucleic acid sequences, reaction conditions and 5′ nuclease activity, the present invention is preferably performed using upstream oligonucleotides, more preferably upstream primers.

The method for detecting a nucleotide variation by a PTOCE assay based on upstream oligonucleotide-independent 5′ nuclease activity comprises:

(a) hybridizing the target nucleic acid sequence with a PTO-NV (Probing and Tagging Oligonucleotide for Nucleotide Variation); wherein the PTO-NV comprises (i) a 3′-targeting portion comprising a hybridizing nucleotide sequence complementary to the target nucleic acid sequence, (ii) a 5′-tagging portion comprising a nucleotide sequence non-complementary to the target nucleic acid sequence, and (iii) a nucleotide variation discrimination site, comprising a complementary sequence to the nucleotide variation on the target nucleic acid, positioned on a 5′-end part of the 3′-targeting portion; wherein the 3′-targeting portion is hybridized with the target nucleic acid sequence and the 5′-tagging portion is not hybridized with the target nucleic acid sequence;

(b) contacting the resultant of the step (a) to an enzyme having a 5′ nuclease activity under conditions for cleavage of the PTO-NV; wherein when the PTO-NV is hybridized with the target nucleic acid sequence having the nucleotide variation complementary to the nucleotide variation discrimination site, and the 5′-end part of the 3′-targeting portion forms a double strand with the target nucleic acid sequence to induce cleavage from a first initial cleavage site, a first fragment is released; wherein when the PTO-NV is hybridized with a target nucleic acid sequence having a nucleotide variation non-complementary to the nucleotide variation discrimination site, and the 5′-end part of the 3′-targeting portion does not form a double strand with the target nucleic acid sequence to induce cleavage from a second initial cleavage site located downstream of the first initial cleavage site, a second fragment is released; wherein the second fragment comprises an additional 3′-end portion allowing the second fragment different from the first fragment;

(c) hybridizing the fragment released from the PTO-NV with a CTO (Capturing and Templating Oligonucleotide); wherein the CTO comprises in a 3′ to 5′ direction (i) a capturing portion comprising a nucleotide sequence complementary to the 5′-tagging portion or a part of the 5′-tagging portion of the PTO-NV and (ii) a templating portion comprising a nucleotide sequence non-complementary to the 5′-tagging portion and the 3′-targeting portion of the PTO-NV; wherein the first fragment or the second fragment released from the PTO-NV is hybridized with the capturing portion of the CTO;

(d) performing an extension reaction using the resultant of the step (c) and a template-dependent nucleic acid polymerase; wherein when the first fragment is hybridized with the capturing portion of the CTO, it is extended to form an extended strand comprising a extended sequence complementary to the templating portion of the CTO; wherein when the second fragment is hybridized with the capturing portion of the CTO, it is not extended; and

(e) detecting the presence of the extended strand, whereby the presence of the extended strand indicates the presence of the nucleotide variation complementary to the nucleotide discrimination site of the PTO-NV.

Since the present method based on upstream oligonucleotide-independent 5′ nuclease activity is the same as those by the PTOCE assay using upstream oligonucleotides except for no use of upstream oligonucleotides, the common descriptions between them are omitted in order to avoid undue redundancy leading to the complexity of this specification.

In another aspect of this invention, there is provided a kit for detecting a nucleotide variation on a target nucleic acid sequence by a PTOCE (PTO Cleavage and Extension) assay, comprising:

(a) a PTO-NV (Probing and Tagging Oligonucleotide for Nucleotide Variation); wherein the PTO-NV comprises (i) a 3′-targeting portion comprising a hybridizing nucleotide sequence complementary to the target nucleic acid sequence, (ii) a 5′-tagging portion comprising a nucleotide sequence non-complementary to the target nucleic acid sequence, and (iii) a nucleotide variation discrimination site comprising a complementary sequence to the nucleotide variation on the target nucleic acid, positioned on a 5′-end part of the 3′-targeting portion; wherein the 3′-targeting portion is hybridized with the target nucleic acid sequence and the 5′-tagging portion is not hybridized with the target nucleic acid sequence;

(b) an upstream oligonucleotide; wherein the upstream oligonucleotide comprises a hybridizing nucleotide sequence complementary to the target nucleic acid sequence; wherein the upstream oligonucleotide is located upstream of the PTO-NV; the upstream oligonucleotide or its extended strand induces cleavage of the PTO-NV by an enzyme having a 5′ nuclease activity; and

(c) a CTO (Capturing and Templating Oligonucleotide); wherein the CTO comprises in a 3′ to 5′ direction (i) a capturing portion comprising a nucleotide sequence complementary to the 5′-tagging portion or a part of the 5′-tagging portion of the PTO-NV and (ii) a templating portion comprising a nucleotide sequence non-complementary to the 5′-tagging portion and the 3′-targeting portion of the PTO-NV;

wherein when the PTO-NV is hybridized with the target nucleic acid sequence having the nucleotide variation complementary to the variation discrimination site, and the 5′-end part of the 3′-targeting portion forms a double strand with the target nucleic acid sequence to induce cleavage from a first initial cleavage site, a first fragment is released;

wherein when the PTO-NV is hybridized with a target nucleic acid sequence having a nucleotide variation non-complementary to the variation discrimination site, and the 5′-end part of the 3′-targeting portion does not form a double strand with the target nucleic acid sequence to induce cleavage from a second initial cleavage site located downstream of the first initial cleavage site, a second fragment is released; wherein the second fragment comprises an additional 3′-end portion permitting the second fragment different from the first fragment; wherein the first fragment or the second fragment released from the PTO-NV is hybridized with the capturing portion of the CTO.

In further aspect of this invention, there is provided a kit for detecting a nucleotide variation on a target nucleic acid sequence by a PTOCE (PTO Cleavage and Extension) assay based on upstream oligonucleotide-independent 5′ nuclease activity, comprising:

(a) a PTO-NV (Probing and Tagging Oligonucleotide for Nucleotide Variation); wherein the PTO-NV comprises (i) a 3′-targeting portion comprising a hybridizing nucleotide sequence complementary to the target nucleic acid sequence, (ii) a 5′-tagging portion comprising a nucleotide sequence non-complementary to the target nucleic acid sequence, and (iii) a nucleotide variation discrimination site comprising a complementary sequence to the nucleotide variation on the target nucleic acid, positioned on a 5′-end part of the 3′-targeting portion; wherein the 3′-targeting portion is hybridized with the target nucleic acid sequence and the 5′-tagging portion is not hybridized with the target nucleic acid sequence;

(b) a CTO (Capturing and Templating Oligonucleotide); wherein the CTO comprises in a 3′ to 5′ direction (i) a capturing portion comprising a nucleotide sequence complementary to the 5′-tagging portion or a part of the 5′-tagging portion of the PTO-NV and (ii) a templating portion comprising a nucleotide sequence non-complementary to the 5′-tagging portion and the 3′-targeting portion of the PTO-NV;

-   -   wherein when the PTO-NV is hybridized with the target nucleic         acid sequence having the nucleotide variation complementary to         the variation discrimination site, and the 5′-end part of the         3′-targeting portion forms a double strand with the target         nucleic acid sequence to induce cleavage from a first initial         cleavage site, a first fragment is released;     -   wherein when the PTO-NV is hybridized with a target nucleic acid         sequence having a nucleotide variation non-complementary to the         variation discrimination site, and the 5′-end part of the         3′-targeting portion does not form a double strand with the         target nucleic acid sequence to induce cleavage from a second         initial cleavage site located downstream of the first initial         cleavage site, a second fragment is released; wherein the second         fragment comprises an additional 3′-end portion permitting the         second fragment different from the first fragment; wherein the         first fragment or the second fragment released from the PTO-NV         is hybridized with the capturing portion of the CTO.

Since the kit of this invention is constructed to perform the detection method of the present invention described above, the common descriptions between them are omitted in order to avoid undue redundancy leading to the complexity of this specification.

The features and advantages of this invention will be summarized as follows:

(a) The present invention provides a target-dependent extended duplex in which PTO (Probing and Tagging Oligonucleotide) hybridized with a target nucleic acid sequence is cleaved to release a fragment and the fragment is hybridized with CTO (Capturing and Templating Oligonucleotide) to form an extended duplex. The extended duplex provides a signal (signal generation or extinguishment) or a signal change (signal increase or decrease) indicating the presence of a target nucleic acid sequence.

(b) The presence of the extended duplex is determined by a variety of methods or processes such as melting curve analysis and detection at a pre-determined temperature (e.g. a real-time manner and end-point manner).

(c) The present invention allows to simultaneously detect at least two types of target nucleic acid sequences by melting curve analysis even using a single type of a label (e.g. FAM). In contrast, the conventional multiplex real-time method performed in a liquid phase is seriously suffering from limitation associated with the number of detectable fluorescence labels. The present invention permits to successfully overcome such shortcomings and widen the application of multiplex real-time detection.

(d) The present invention can be performed using a multitude of labeling systems. For example, the labels linked to any site of PTO and/or CTO can be utilized for providing the target signal indicating the extended duplex. Also, labels incorporated into the extended duplex during the extension reaction can be used in the present invention. In addition to this, a combination of such labels can be used. The versatile labeling systems applicable to the present invention allow us to choose a proper labeling system depending on experimental conditions or objectives.

(e) The present invention provides a target-dependent extended duplex which has a pre-determined T_(m) value adjustable by (i) a sequence and/or length of the fragment, (ii) a sequence and/or length of the CTO or (iii) the sequence and/or length of the fragment and the sequence and/or length of the CTO.

(f) Conventional melting curve analysis using an amplified product depends on the sequence of the amplified product such that it is difficult to obtain a desired Tm value of amplified product. In contrast, the present invention depends on the sequence of an extended duplex not the sequence of an amplified product, permitting to select a desired T_(m) value of extended duplex. Therefore, the present invention is easily adoptable for the detection of multiple target sequences.

(g) Conventional melting curve analysis using a direct hybridization between labeled probes and target nucleic acid sequences is very likely to generate false positive signals due to non-specific hybridization of probes. In contrast, the present invention employs not only PTO hybridization but also enzymatic cleavage and extension, which overcomes completely problems of false positive signals.

(h) T_(m) value of conventional melting curve analysis is affected by a sequence variation on the target nucleic acid sequences. However, an extended duplex in the present invention provides a constant T_(m) value regardless of a sequence variation on the target nucleic acid sequences, permitting to ensure excellent accuracy in melting curve analysis.

(i) It is noteworthy that the sequence of the 5′-tagging portion of PTO and the sequence of CTO can be selected with no consideration of target nucleic acid sequences. This makes it possible to pre-design a pool of sequences for the 5′-tagging portion of PTO and CTO. Although the 3′-targeting portion of the PTO has to be prepared with considering target nucleic acid sequences, the CTO can be prepared in a ready-made fashion with no consideration or knowledge of target nucleic acid sequences. Such features provide prominent advantages in multiple target detection, inter alia, on a microarray assay using CTOs immobilized onto a solid substrate.

(j) According to the present invention for the detection of a nucleotide variation on a target nucleic acid sequence, i.e., the VD-PTOCE assay, the probe (PTO-NV) shows distinctly different hybridization patterns depending on the presence of the nucleotide variation of interest.

(k) Such distinct hybridization patterns on the nucleotide variation of interest are responsible for differences in initial cleavage sites of the PTO-NV, thereby producing two types of PTO-NV fragments to give signal differentiation depending on the presence of the nucleotide variation of interest.

The present invention will now be described in further detail by examples. It would be obvious to those skilled in the art that these examples are intended to be more concretely illustrative and the scope of the present invention as set forth in the appended claims is not limited to or by the examples.

EXAMPLES Example 1 Evaluation of Probing and Tagging Oligonucleotide Cleavage & Extension (PTOCE) Assay

A New assay, Probing and Tagging Oligonucleotide Cleavage & Extension (PTOCE) assay, was evaluated whether an extended duplex can provide a target signal for the detection of a target nucleic acid sequence.

For this evaluation, PTOCE assay detecting the presence of an extended duplex by melting analysis was performed (PTOCE assay comprising melting analysis). We used Taq DNA polymerase having a 5′ nuclease activity for the extension of upstream primer, the cleavage of PTO and the extension of PTO fragment.

The extended duplex formed during the assay was designed to have an interactive dual label. The interactive dual label in the extended duplex was provided by (i) CTO labeled with a reporter molecule and a quencher molecule (dual-labeled CTO) or (ii) PTO having a quencher molecule and CTO having a reporter molecule (a quencher-labeled PTO and a reporter-labeled CTO). PTO and CTO are blocked with a carbon spacer at their 3′-ends. The synthetic oligonucleotide for Neisseria gonorrhoeae (NG) gene was used as a target template.

1-1. PTOCE Assay Using a Dual-Labeled CTO

PTO has no label. CTO has a quencher molecule (BHQ-1) and a fluorescent reporter molecule (FAM) in its templating portion. The sequences of synthetic template, upstream primer, PTO and CTO used in this Example are:

NG-T  (SEQ ID NO: 1) 5′-AAATATGCGAAACACGCCAATGAGGGGCATGATGCTTTCTTTTTGT TCTTGCTCGGCAGAGCGAGTGATACCGATCCATTGAAAAA-3′ NG-R (SEQ ID NO: 2) 5′-CAATGGATCGGTATCACTCGC-3′ NG-PTO-1 (SEQ ID NO: 3) 5′-ACGACGGCTTGGCTGCCCCTCATTGGCGTGTTTCG [C3 spacer]-3′ NG-CTO-1 (SEQ ID NO: 4) 5′-[BHQ-1]CCTCCTCCTCCTCCTCCTCC[T(FAM)]CCAGTAAAGCC AAGCCGTCGT[C3 Spacer]-3′ (Underlined letters indicate the 5′-tagging portion of PTO)

The reaction was conducted in the final volume of 20 μl containing 2 pmole of synthetic template (SEQ ID NO: 1) for NG gene, 10 pmole of upstream primer (SEQ ID NO: 2), 5 pmole of PTO (SEQ ID NO 3), 2 pmole of CTO (SEQ ID NO: 4) and 10 μl of 2× Master Mix containing 2.5 mM MgCl₂, 200 μM of dNTPs and 1.6 units of H-Taq DNA polymerase (Solgent, Korea); the tube containing the reaction mixture was placed in the real-time thermocycler (CFX96, Bio-Rad); the reaction mixture was denatured for 15 min at 95° C. and subjected to 30 cycles of 30 sec at 95° C., 60 sec at 60° C. After the reaction, melting curve was obtained by cooling the reaction mixture to 35° C., holding at for 35° C. for 30 sec, and heating slowly at 35° C. to 90° C. The fluorescence was measured continuously during the temperature rise to monitor dissociation of double-stranded DNAs. Melting peak was derived from the melting curve data.

As shown FIG. 14, a peak at 76.5° C. corresponding to the expected Tm value of the extended duplex was detected in the presence of the template. No peak was detected in the absence of the template. Since the hybrid of uncleaved PTO and CTO does not give any signal in this labeling method, there was no peak corresponding to the hybrid of uncleaved PTO and CTO. In case of no PTO or no CTO, any peak was not observed.

1-2. PTOCE Assay Using a Quencher-Labeled PTO and a Reporter-Labeled CTO

PTO is labeled with a quencher molecule (BHQ-1) at its 5′-end. CTO is labeled with a fluorescent reporter molecule (FAM) at its 3′-end.

The sequences of synthetic template, upstream primer, PTO and CTO used in this Example are:

NG-T  (SEQ ID NO: 1) 5′-AAATATGCGAAACACGCCAATGAGGGGCATGATGCTTTCTTTTTGT TCTTGCTCGGCAGAGCGAGTGATACCGATCCATTGAAAAA-3′ NG-R (SEQ ID NO: 2) 5′-CAATGGATCGGTATCACTCGC-3′ NG-PTO-2 (SEQ ID NO: 5) 5′-[BHQ-1]ACGACGGCTTGGCTTTACTGCCCCTCATTGGCGTGTTTC G[C3 spacer]-3′ NG-CTO-2 (SEQ ID NO: 6) 5′-CCTCCTCCTCCTCCTCCTCCTCCAGTAAAGCCAAGCCGTCGT [FAM]-3′ (Underlined letters indicate the 5′-tagging portion of PTO)

The reaction was conducted in the final volume of 20 μl containing 2 pmole of synthetic template (SEQ ID NO: 1) for NG gene, 10 pmole of upstream primer (SEQ ID NO: 2), 5 pmole of PTO (SEQ ID NO: 5), 2 pmole of CTO (SEQ ID NO: 6) and 10 μl of 2× Master Mix containing 2.5 mM MgCl₂, 200 μM of dNTPs and 1.6 units of H-Taq DNA polymerase (Solgent, Korea); the tube containing the reaction mixture was placed in the real-time thermocycler (CFX96, Bio-Rad); the reaction mixture was denatured for 15 min at 95° C. and subjected to 30 cycles of 30 sec at 95° C., 60 sec at 60° C., 30 sec at 72° C. After the reaction, melting curve was obtained by cooling the reaction mixture to 35° C., holding at for 35° C. for 30 sec, and heating slowly at 35° C. to 90° C. The fluorescence was measured continuously during the temperature rise to monitor dissociation of double-stranded DNAs. Melting peak was derived from the melting curve data.

As shown FIG. 15, a peak at 77.0° C. corresponding to the expected Tm value of the extended duplex was detected in the presence of the template. Since the hybrid of uncleaved PTO and CTO does give a non-target signal in this labeling method, there was a peak at 64.0° C.˜64.5° C. corresponding to the expected Tm value of the hybrid of uncleaved PTO and CTO. In case of no PTO or no CTO, any peak was not observed.

These results indicate that a target-dependent extended duplex is produced and the extended duplex provides the target signal indicating the presence of the target nucleic acid sequence.

Example 2 Adjustability of Tm Value of an Extended Duplex

We further examined whether the Tm value of an extended duplex is adjustable by the sequence of CTO in PTOCE assay.

For the examination, we used three types of CTOs having different sequences at their templating portions. PTO has no label. The three types of CTOs have a quencher molecule (BHQ-1) and a fluorescent reporter molecule (FAM) in their templating portions. PTO and CTO are blocked with a carbon spacer at their 3′-ends.

PTOCE assay comprising melting analysis was performed with each of the three types of CTOs.

The sequences of synthetic template, upstream primer, PTO and CTOs used in this Example are:

NG-T  (SEQ ID NO: 1) 5′-AAATATGCGAAACACGCCAATGAGGGGCATGATGCTTTCTTTTTGT TCTTGCTCGGCAGAGCGAGTGATACCGATCCATTGAAAAA-3′ NG-R (SEQ ID NO: 2) 5′-CAATGGATCGGTATCACTCGC-3′ NG-PTO-3 (SEQ ID NO: 7) 5′-ACGACGGCTTGGCCCCTCATTGGCGTGTTTCG[C3 spacer]-3′ NG-CTO-1 (SEQ ID NO: 4) 5′-[BHQ-1]CCTCCTCCTCCTCCTCCTCC[T(FAM)]AAAGCCAAGC CGTCGT[C3 Spacer]-3′ NG-CTO-3 (SEQ ID NO: 8) 5′-[BHQ-1]TTTTTTTTTTCCTCCTCCAG[T(FAM)]AAAGCCAAGC CGTCGT[C3 Spacer]-3′ NG-CTO-4 (SEQ ID NO: 9) 5′-[BHQ-1]TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTAG[T(FAM)]AAAGCCAAGC CGTCGT[C3 Spacer]-3′ (Underlined letters indicate the 5′-tagging  portion of PTO)

The reaction was conducted in the final volume of 20 μl containing 2 pmole is of synthetic template (SEQ ID NO: 1) for NG gene, 10 pmole of upstream primer (SEQ ID NO: 2), 5 pmole of PTO (SEQ ID NO: 7), 2 pmole of CTO (SEQ ID NOs: 4, 8, or 9), and 10 μl of 2× Master Mix containing 2.5 mM MgCl₂, 200 μM of dNTPs and 1.6 units of H-Taq DNA polymerase (Solgent, Korea); the tube containing the reaction mixture was placed in the real-time thermocycler (CFX96, Bio-Rad); the reaction mixture was denatured for 15 min at 95° C. and subjected to 30 cycles of 30 sec at 95° C., 60 sec at 60° C. After the reaction, melting curve was obtained by cooling the reaction mixture to 35° C., holding at for 35° C. for 30 sec, and heating slowly at 35° C. to 90° C. The fluorescence was measured continuously during the temperature rise to monitor dissociation of double-stranded DNAs. Melting peak was derived from the melting curve data.

As shown in FIG. 16, a peak was detected at 76.0° C., 69.0° C. or 64.5° C. in the presence of the template. Each peak corresponds to the expected Tm of the extended duplex generated from the examined CTO. No peak was detected in the absence of the template.

These results indicate that the Tm value of the extended duplex is adjustable by the sequence of CTO.

Example 3 Detection of a Target Nucleic Acid Sequence Using PTOCE Assay Comprising Real-Time Detection or Melting Analysis

We further examined whether the PTOCE assay can detect a target nucleic acid sequence in real-time PCR manner (i) or post-PCR melting analysis manner (ii): (i) Cleavage of PTO and extension of PTO fragment were accompanied with the amplification of a target nucleic acid by PCR process and the presence of the extended duplex was detected at a pre-determined temperature in each cycle (PTOCE assay comprising real-time detection at a pre-determined temperature) or; (ii) Cleavage of PTO and extension of PTO fragment were accompanied with the amplification of a target nucleic acid by PCR process and the presence of the extended duplex was detected by post-PCR melting analysis (PTOCE assay comprising melting analysis).

Upstream primer is involved in the PTO cleavage by an enzyme having a 5′ nuclease activity and also involved in amplification of the target acid sequence with downstream primer by PCR process. Taq DNA polymerase having a 5′ nuclease activity was used for the extension of upstream primer and downstream primer, the cleavage of PTO and the extension of PTO fragment.

The extended duplex was designed to have an interactive dual label. The interactive dual label in the extended duplex was provided by (i) CTO labeled with a reporter molecule and a quencher molecule, (ii) a quencher-iso-dGTP incorporated during extension reaction and CTO having a reporter molecule and an iso-dC residue or (iii) PTO having a quencher molecule and CTO having a reporter molecule. PTO and CTO are blocked with a carbon spacer at their 3′-ends.

Genomic DNA of Neisseria gonorrhoeae (NG) was used as a target nucleic acid.

3-1. PTOCE Assay Using a Dual-Labeled CTO

PTO has no label and CTO is labeled with a quencher molecule (BHQ-1) and a fluorescent reporter molecule (FAM) in its templating portion.

The sequences of upstream primer, downstream primer, PTO and CTO used in this Example are:

NG-F (SEQ ID NO: 10) 5′-TACGCCTGCTACTTTCACGCT-3′ NG-R (SEQ ID NO: 2) 5′-CAATGGATCGGTATCACTCGC-3′ NG-PTO-3 (SEQ ID NO: 7) 5′-ACGACGGCTTGGCCCCTCATTGGCGTGTTTCG[C3 spacer]-3′ NG-CTO-1 (SEQ ID NO: 4) 5′-[BHQ-1]CCTCCTCCTCCTCCTCCTCC[T(FAM)]CCAGTAAAGCC AAGCCGTCGT[C3 Spacer]-3′ (Underlined letters indicate the 5′-tagging portion of PTO)

3-1-1. PTOCE Assay Comprising Real-Time Detection at a Pre-Determined Temperature

The reaction was conducted in the final volume of 20 μl containing 100 pg of genomic DNA of NG, 10 pmole of downstream primer (SEQ ID NO: 10), 10 pmole of upstream primer (SEQ ID NO: 2), 5 pmole of PTO (SEQ ID NO: 7), 2 pmole of CTO (SEQ ID NO: 4), and 10 μl of 2× Master Mix containing 2.5 mM MgCl₂, 200 μM of dNTPs and 1.6 units of H-Taq DNA polymerase (Solgent, Korea); the tube containing the reaction mixture was placed in the real-time thermocycler (CFX96, Bio-Rad); the reaction mixture was denatured for 15 min at 95° C. and subjected to 60 cycles of 30 sec at 95° C., 60 sec at 60° C., 30 sec at 72° C. Detection of the signal was performed at 60° C. of each cycle. The detection temperature was determined to the extent that the extended duplex maintains a double-stranded form.

As shown in FIG. 17A, the target signal (Ct 31.36) was detected in the presence of the template. No signal was detected in the absence of the template.

3-1-2. PTOCE Assay Comprising Melting Analysis

After the reaction in Example 3-1-1, melting curve was obtained by cooling the reaction mixture to 35° C., holding at for 35° C. for 30 sec, and heating slowly at 35° C. to 90° C. The fluorescence was measured continuously during the temperature rise to monitor dissociation of double-stranded DNAs. Melting peak was derived from the melting curve data.

As shown FIG. 17B, a peak at 76.0° C. corresponding to the expected Tm value of the extended duplex was detected in the presence of the template. No peak was detected in the absence of the template. Since the hybrid of uncleaved PTO and CTO does not give any signal in this labeling method, there was no peak corresponding to the hybrid of uncleaved PTO and CTO.

3-2. PTOCE Assay Using a Quencher-Iso-dGTP and a Reporter-Labeled CTO Having an Iso-dC Residue

PTO has no label. CTO has a reporter molecule (FAM) and an iso-dC residue at its 5′-end. During extension reaction of PTO fragment, an iso-dGTP labeled with a quencher molecule (dabcyl) is incorporated at the position complementary to the iso-dC residue.

The sequences of upstream primer, downstream primer, PTO and CTO used in this Example are:

NG-F (SEQ ID NO: 10) 5′-TACGCCTGCTACTTTCACGCT-3′ NG-R (SEQ ID NO: 2) 5′-CAATGGATCGGTATCACTCGC-3′ NG-PTO-1 (SEQ ID NO: 3) 5′-ACGACGGCTTGGCTGCCCCTCATTGGCGTGTTTCG [C3 spacer]-3′ NG-CTO-5 (SEQ ID NO: 11) 5′-[FAM][Iso-dC]CTCCTCCAGTAAAGCCAAGCCGTCGT [C3 spacer]-3′ (Underlined letters indicate the 5′-tagging portion of PTO)

3-2-1. PTOCE Assay Comprising Real-Time Detection at a Pre-Determined Temperature

The reaction was conducted in the final volume of 20 μl containing 100 pg of genomic DNA of NG, 10 pmole of downstream primer (SEQ ID NO: 10), 10 pmole of upstream primer (SEQ ID NO: 2), 5 pmole of PTO (SEQ ID NO: 3), 2 pmole of CTO (SEQ ID NO: 11), and 10 μl of 2× Plexor® Master Mix (Cat. No. A4100, Promega, USA); the tube containing the reaction mixture was placed in the real-time thermocycler (CFX96, Bio-Rad); the reaction mixture was denatured for 15 min at 95° C. and subjected to 60 cycles of 30 sec at 95° C., 60 sec at 60° C., 30 sec at 72° C. and 5 cycles of 30 sec at 72° C., 30 sec at 55° C. Detection of the signal was performed at 60° C. of each cycle. The detection temperature was determined to the extent that the extended duplex maintains a double-stranded form.

DNA polymerase having 5′ nuclease in the Plexor® Master Mix was used for the extension of upstream primer and downstream primer, the cleavage of PTO and the extension of PTO fragment.

As shown in FIG. 18A, the target signal (Ct 33.03) was detected in the presence of the template. No signal was detected in the absence of the template.

3-2-2. PTOCE Assay Comprising Melting Analysis

After the reaction in Example 3-2-1, melting curve was obtained by cooling the reaction mixture to 35° C., holding at for 35° C. for 30 sec, and heating slowly at 35° C. to 90° C. The fluorescence was measured continuously during the temperature rise to monitor dissociation of double-stranded DNAs. Melting peak was derived from the melting curve data.

As shown FIG. 18B, a peak at 70.0° C. corresponding to the expected Tm value of the extended duplex was detected in the presence of the template. No peak was detected in the absence of the template. Since the hybrid of uncleaved PTO and CTO does not give any signal in this labeling method, there was no peak corresponding to the hybrid of uncleaved PTO and CTO.

3-3. PTOCE Assay Using a Quencher-Labeled PTO and a Reporter-Labeled CTO

PTO is labeled with a quencher molecule (BHQ-1) at its 5′-end. CTO is labeled with a fluorescent reporter molecule (FAM) at its 3′-end.

The sequences of upstream primer, downstream primer, PTO and CTO used in this Example are:

NG-F (SEQ ID NO: 10) 5′-TACGCCTGCTACTTTCACGCT-3′ NG-R (SEQ ID NO: 2) 5′-CAATGGATCGGTATCACTCGC-3′ NG-PTO-4 (SEQ ID NO: 12) 5′-[BHQ-1]ACGACGGCTTGCCCCTCATTGGCGTGTTTCG [C3 spacer]-3′ NG-CTO-2 (SEQ ID NO: 6) 5′-CCTCCTCCTCCTCCTCCTCCTCCAGTAAAGCCAAGCCGTCGT [FAM]-3′ (Underlined letters indicate the 5′-tagging portion of PTO)

3-3-1. PTOCE Assay Comprising Real-Time Detection at a Pre-Determined Temperature

The reaction was conducted in the final volume of 20 μl containing 100 pg of NG genomic DNA, 10 pmole of downstream primer (SEQ ID NO: 10), 10 pmole of upstream primer (SEQ ID NO: 2), 5 pmole of PTO (SEQ ID NO: 12), 2 pmole of CTO (SEQ ID NO: 6) and 10 μl of 2× Master Mix containing 2.5 mM MgCl₂, 200 μM of dNTPs and 1.6 units of H-Taq DNA polymerase (Solgent, Korea); the tube containing the reaction mixture was placed in the real-time thermocycler (CFX96, Bio-Rad); the reaction mixture was denatured for 15 min at 95° C. and subjected to 60 cycles of 30 sec at 95° C., 60 sec at 60° C., 30 sec at 72° C. Detection of the signal was performed at 60° C. of each cycle. The detection temperature was determined to the extent that the extended duplex maintains a double-stranded form and the temperature is higher than the T_(m) value of a hybrid between uncleaved PTO and CTO.

As shown in FIG. 19A, the target signal (Ct 29.79) was detected in the presence of the template. No signal was detected in the absence of the template.

3-3-2. PTOCE Assay Comprising Melting Analysis

After the reaction in Example 3-3-1, melting curve was obtained by cooling the reaction mixture to 35° C., holding at for 35° C. for 30 sec, and heating slowly at 35° C. to 90° C. The fluorescence was measured continuously during the temperature rise to monitor dissociation of double-stranded DNAs. Melting peak was derived from the melting curve data.

As shown FIG. 19B, a peak at 76.5° C. corresponding to the expected Tm value of the extended duplex was detected in the presence of the template. Since the hybrid of uncleaved PTO and CTO does give a non-target signal in this labeling method, the peak corresponding to the Tm value of the hybrid of uncleaved PTO and CTO was detected at 48.0° C. in the absence of the template.

These results indicate that a target nucleic acid sequence can be detected by PTOCE assay comprising real-time detection or melting analysis.

Example 4 Detection of Multiple Target Nucleic Acid Sequences by PTOCE Assay Comprising Melting Analysis

We also examined whether the PTOCE assay comprising melting analysis can detect multiple target nucleic acid sequences using the same type of a reporter molecule.

Cleavage of PTOs and extension of PTO fragments were accompanied with the amplification of target nucleic acid sequences by PCR process and the presence of the extended duplexes was detected by post-PCR melting analysis (PTOCE assay comprising melting analysis).

The extended duplexes formed during the assay were designed to have an interactive dual label. The interactive dual label in extended duplex was provided by CTO labeled with a reporter molecule and a quencher molecule in its templating portion. The CTOs have the same type of a fluorescent reporter molecule (FAM) but have different sequences to generate the different Tm values of the extended duplexes. PTO and CTO are blocked with a carbon spacer at their 3′-ends.

Genomic DNAs of Neisseria gonorrhoeae (NG) and Staphylococcus aureus (SA) were used as target nucleic acids.

The sequences of upstream primer, downstream primer, PTOs and CTOs used in this Example are:

NG-F (SEQ ID NO: 10) 5′-TACGCCTGCTACTTTCACGCT-3′ NG-R (SEQ ID NO: 2) 5′-CAATGGATCGGTATCACTCGC-3′ NG-PTO-3 (SEQ ID NO: 7) 5′-ACGACGGCTTGGCCCCTCATTGGCGTGTTTCG[C3 spacer]-3′ NG-CTO-1 (SEQ ID NO: 4) 5′-[BHQ-1]CCTCCTCCTCCTCCTCCTCC[T(FAM)]CCAGTAAAGCC AAGCCGTCGT[C3 Spacer]-3′ SA-F (SEQ ID NO: 13) 5′-TGTTAGAATTTGAACAAGGATTTAATC-3′ SA-R (SEQ ID NO: 14) 5′-GATAAGTTTAAAGCTTGACCGTCTG-3′ SA-PTO-1 (SEQ ID NO: 15) 5′-AATCCGACCACGCATTCCGTGGTCAATCATTCGGTTTACG [C3 spacer]-3′ SA-CTO-1 (SEQ ID NO: 16) 5′-[BHQ-1]TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTGCA[T(FAM)]AGCGTGGTCGG ATT[C3 spacer]-3′ (Underlined letters indicate the 5′-tagging portion of PTO)

The reaction was conducted in the final volume of 20 μl containing 100 pg of genomic DNA of NG, 100 pg of genomic DNA of SA, 10 pmole of each downstream primer (SEQ ID NOs: 10 and 13), 10 pmole of each upstream primer (SEQ ID NOs: 2 and 14), 5 pmole of each PTO (SEQ ID NOs: 7 and 15), 2 pmole of each CTO (SEQ ID NOs: 4 and 16), and 10 μl of 2× Master Mix containing 2.5 mM MgCl₂, 200 μM of dNTPs and 1.6 units of H-Taq DNA polymerase (Solgent, Korea); the tube containing the reaction mixture was placed in the real-time thermocycler (CFX96, Bio-Rad); the reaction mixture was denatured for 15 min at 95° C. and subjected to 60 cycles of 30 sec at 95° C., 60 sec at 60° C., 30 sec at 72° C. After the reaction, melting curve was obtained by cooling the reaction mixture to 35° C., holding at for 35° C. for 30 sec, and heating slowly at 35° C. to 90° C. The fluorescence was measured continuously during the temperature rise to monitor dissociation of double-stranded DNAs. Melting peak was derived from the melting curve data.

As shown in FIG. 20, multiple target signals (NG's Tm: 75.5° C. and SA's Tm: 63.5° C.) were detected in the presence of the templates. No signal was detected in the absence of the templates.

These results indicate that PTOCE assay comprising melting analysis allows us to detect multiple target nucleic acids by using the same type of a reporter molecule (e.g. FAM) in the condition that the extended duplexes corresponding to the target nucleic acids have different T_(m) values.

Example 5 Evaluation of PTOCE Assay Comprising Melting Analysis on Microarray

We further examined PTOCE assay comprising melting analysis on microarray. PTO cleavage was conducted in a separate vessel and an aliquot of the resultant was taken into a microarray where CTO was immobilized. After the extension reaction, the presence of the extended duplex was detected by melting analysis.

Taq DNA polymerase having 5′ nuclease activity was used for the extension of upstream primer, the cleavage of PTO and the extension of PTO fragment. The extended duplex formed during the assay was designed to have a single label. The single label in the extended duplex was provided by PTO labeled with Quasar570 as a fluorescent reporter molecule at its 5′-end. PTO and CTO are blocked with a carbon spacer at their 3′-ends. The CTO has poly(T)₅ as a linker arm and was immobilized on the surface of a glass slide by using an amino group (AminnoC7) at its 5′-end. A marker probe having a fluorescent reporter molecule (Quasar570) at its 5′-end was immobilized on the surface of the glass slide by using an amino group at its 3′-end.

The sequences of synthetic template, upstream primer, PTO, CTO and marker used in this Example are:

NG-T (SEQ ID NO: 1) 5′-AAATATGCGAAACACGCCAATGAGGGGCATGATGCTTTCTTTTTGT TCTTGCTCGGCAGAGCGAGTGATACCGATCCATTGAAAAA-3′ NG-R (SEQ ID NO: 2) 5′-CAATGGATCGGTATCACTCGC-3′ NG-PTO-5 (SEQ ID NO: 17) 5′-[Quasar570]ACGACGGCTTGGCTTTACTGCCCCTCATTGGCGTG TTTCG[C3 spacer]-3′ NG-CTO-S1 (SEQ ID NO: 18) 5′-[AminoC7]TTTTTCCTCCTCCTCCTCCTCCTCCTCCAGTAAAGCC AAGCCGTCGT[C3 Spacer]-3′ Marker (SEQ ID NO: 19) 5′-[Quasar570]ATATATATAT[AminoC7]-3′ (Underlined letters indicate the 5′-tagging portion of PTO)

NSB9 NHS slides (NSBPOSTECH, Korea) were used for fabrication of the CTO and marker (SEQ ID NOs: 18 and 19). The CTO and marker dissolved in NSB spotting buffer at the final concentration of 10 μM were printed on the NSB9 NHS slides with PersonalArrayer™16 Microarray Spotter (CapitalBio, China). The CTO and marker were spotted side by side in a 2×1 format (duplicate spots), and the resulting microarray was incubated in a chamber maintained at ˜85% humidity for overnight. The slides were then washed in a buffer solution containing 2×SSPE (0.3 M sodium chloride, 0.02 M sodium hydrogen phosphate and 2.0 mM EDTA), pH 7.4 and 7.0 mM SDS at 37° C. for 30 min to remove the non-specifically bound CTO and marker and rinsed with distilled water. Then, the DNA-functionalized slides were dried using a slide centrifuge and stored in dark at 4° C. until use.

The cleavage reaction was conducted in the final volume of 50 μl containing 2 pmole of synthetic template (SEQ ID NO: 1) for NG gene, 10 pmole of upstream primer (SEQ ID NO: 2), 1 pmole of PTO (SEQ ID NO: 17), and 25 μl of 2× Master Mix containing 2.5 mM MgCl₂, 200 μM of dNTPs, and 4 units of H-Taq DNA polymerase (Solgent, Korea); the tube containing the reaction mixture was placed in the real-time thermocycler (CFX96, Bio-Rad); the reaction mixture was denatured for 15 min at 95° C. and subjected to 30 cycles of 30 sec at 95° C., 60 sec at 63° C.

The 30 μl of the resulting mixture was applied to a chamber assembled on the surface of NSB glass slide on which the CTO (SEQ ID NO: 18) was cross-linked. The slide was placed on in situ block in a thermocycler (GenePro B4I, China). Six same slides were prepared for melting analysis. The extension reaction was allowed for 20 min at 55° C. Then, the resulting slides were incubated for 1 min at room temperature. Finally each slide was washed in distilled water for 1 min at 44° C., 52° C., 60° C., 68° C., 76° C. or 84° C. The image acquisition was carried out by the use of Confocal Laser Scanner, Axon GenePix4100A (Molecular Device, US) with scanning at 5 μm pixel resolution. The fluorescence intensity was analyzed by the use of quantitative microarray analysis software, GenePix pro6.0 software (Molecular Device, US). The fluorescence intensity was expressed as spot-medians after local background subtractions. Each spot was duplicated for the test of reproducibility. The fluorescence intensity indicates the average value of the duplicated spots.

As shown in FIGS. 21A and 21B, melting curve was obtained by measuring the fluorescent intensity from the spots prepared by different washing temperatures. The presence of the extended duplex was determined from the melting curve data.

Example 6 Evaluation of PTOCE Assay Comprising Real-Time Detection on Microarray

We further examined PTOCE assay comprising real-time detection at a pre-determined temperature on microarray.

Cleavage of PTO and extension of PTO fragment were repeated on a microarray where CTO was immobilized. The presence of the extended duplex was detected at a pre-determined temperature in several determined cycles.

Taq DNA polymerase having 5′ nuclease activity was used for the extension of upstream primer, the cleavage of PTO and the extension of PTO fragment.

The extended duplex formed during the assay was designed to have a single label or an interactive dual label. The single label in the extended duplex was provided by PTO labeled with a reporter molecule (reporter-labeled PTO). The interactive dual label in the extended duplex was provided by CTO labeled with a reporter molecule and a quencher molecule (dual-labeled CTO). PTO and CTO are blocked with a carbon spacer at their 3′-ends.

The CTO has poly(T) as a linker arm. The CTO was immobilized on a glass slide by using an amino group (AminnoC7) at its 5′-end or its 3′-end. A marker probe having a fluorescent reporter molecule (Quasar570) at its 5′-end was immobilized on the glass slide by using an amino group at its 3′-end. A fluorescent intensity on the glass slide was measured at a pre-determined temperature. The detection temperature was determined to the extent that the extended duplex maintains a double-stranded form. Synthetic oligonucleotide for Neisseria gonorrhoeae (NG) was used as templates.

6-1. PTOCE Assay Using a Reporter-Labeled PTO

PTO has Quasar570 as a fluorescent reporter molecule at its 5′-end. The CTO was immobilized through its 5′-end. In this labeling method, the detection temperature was determined to the extent that the extended duplex maintains a double-stranded form and the temperature is higher than the T_(m) value of a hybrid between uncleaved PTO and CTO.

The sequences of synthetic template, upstream primer, PTO, CTO and marker used in this Example are:

NG-T  (SEQ ID NO: 1) 5′-AAATATGCGAAACACGCCAATGAGGGGCATGATGCTTTCTTTTTGT TCTTGCTCGGCAGAGCGAGTGATACCGATCCATTGAAAAA-3′ NG-R (SEQ ID NO: 2) 5′-CAATGGATCGGTATCACTCGC-3′ NG-PTO-5 (SEQ ID NO: 17) 5′-[Quasar570]ACGACGGCTTGGCTTTACTGCCCCTCATTGGCGTG TTTCG[C3 spacer]-3′ NG-CTO-S1 (SEQ ID NO: 18) 5′-[AminoC7]TTTTTCCTCCTCCTCCTCCTCCTCCTCCAGTAAAGCC AAGCCGTCGT[C3 Spacer]-3′ Marker (SEQ ID NO: 19) 5′-[Quasar570]ATATATATAT[AminoC7]-3′ (Underlined letters indicate the 5′-tagging portion of PTO)

Slide preparation was conducted as the same protocol used in Example 5.

The PTOCE reaction was conducted in the final volume of 30 μl containing 2 pmole of synthetic template (SEQ ID NO: 1) for NG gene, 10 pmole of upstream primer (SEQ ID NO: 2), 1 pmole of PTO (SEQ ID NO: 17), and 15 μl of 2× Master Mix containing 2.5 mM MgCl₂, 200 μM of dNTPs, and 2.4 units of H-Taq DNA polymerase (Solgent, Korea); the whole mixture was applied to a chamber assembled on the surface of NSB glass slide on which the CTO (SEQ ID NO: 18) was cross-linked. The slide was placed on in situ block in a thermocycler (GenePro B4I, China). Five same slides were prepared for cycling analysis. The PTOCE reaction was carried out as follows: 15 min denaturation at 95° C. and 0, 5, 10, 20 or 30 cycles of 30 sec at 95° C., 60 sec at 60° C., 60 sec at 55° C. After the reaction of the corresponding cycle number, the slides were washed in distilled water at 64° C. for 1 min. The image acquisition was carried out after each washing by the use of Confocal Laser Scanner, Axon GenePix4100A (Molecular Device, US) with scanning at 5-μm pixel resolution. The fluorescence intensity was analyzed, by the use of quantitative microarray analysis software, GenePix pro6.0 software (Molecular Device, US). The fluorescence intensity was expressed as spot-medians after local background subtractions. Each spot was duplicated for the test of reproducibility. The fluorescence intensity indicates the average value of the duplicated spots.

As shown in FIGS. 22A and 22B, the fluorescent intensity for the target nucleic acid sequence was increased depending on cycle numbers (0 cycle_RFU: 1,304±0.7; 5 cycles_RFU: 18,939±1,342.1; 10 cycles_RFU: 30,619±285.0; 20 cycles_RFU: 56,248±2,208.3; and 30 cycles_RFU: 64,645±1,110.2) in the presence of the template. There was no change of the fluorescent intensity depending on cycle numbers in the absence of the template.

6-2. PTOCE Assay Using a Dual-Labeled CTO

The CTO was immobilized through its 3′-end and has a quencher molecule (BHQ-2) and a fluorescent reporter molecule (Quasar570) in its templating portion.

The sequences of synthetic template, upstream primer, PTO, CTO and marker used in this Example are:

NG-T (SEQ ID NO: 1) 5′-AAATATGCGAAACACGCCAATGAGGGGCATGATGCTTTCTTTTTGT TCTTGCTCGGCAGAGCGAGTGATACCGATCCATTGAAAAA-3′ NG-R (SEQ ID NO: 2) 5′-CAATGGATCGGTATCACTCGC-3′ NG-PTO-6 (SEQ ID NO: 20) 5′-ACGACGGCTTGGCTTTACTGCCCCTCATTGGCGTGTTTCG [C3 spacer]-3′ NG-CTO-S2 (SEQ ID NO: 21) 5′-[BHQ-2]CCTCCTCCTCCTCCTCCTCC[T(Quasar570)]CCAGT AAAGCCAAGCCGTCGTTTTTTTTTTT[AminoC7]-3′ Marker (SEQ ID NO: 19) 5′-[Quasar570]ATATATATAT[AminoC7]-3′ (Underlined letters indicate the 5′-tagging portion of PTO)

Slide preparation was conducted as the same protocol used in Example 5.

The PTOCE reaction was conducted in the final volume of 30 μl containing 2 pmole of synthetic template (SEQ ID NO: 1) for NG gene, 10 pmole of upstream primer (SEQ ID NO: 2), 1 pmole of PTO (SEQ ID NO: 20), and 15 μl of 2× Master Mix containing 2.5 mM MgCl₂, 200 μM of dNTPs, and 2.4 units of H-Taq DNA polymerase (Solgent, Korea); the whole mixture was applied to a chamber assembled on the surface of NSB glass slide on which the CTO was cross-linked (SEQ ID NO: 21). The slide was placed on in situ block in a thermocycler (GenePro B4I, China). Five same slides were prepared for cycling analysis. The PTOCE reaction was carried out as follows: 15 min denaturation at 95° C. and 0, 5, 10, 20 or 30 cycles of 30 sec at 95° C., 60 sec at 60° C., 60 sec at 50° C. After the reaction of the corresponding cycle number, the image acquisition was carried out by the use of Confocal Laser Scanner, Axon GenePix4100A (Molecular Device, US) with scanning at 5 μm pixel resolution. The fluorescence intensity was analyzed by the use of quantitative microarray analysis software, GenePix pro6.0 software (Molecular Device, US). The fluorescence intensity was expressed as spot-medians after local background subtractions. Each spot was duplicated for the test of reproducibility. The fluorescence intensity indicates the average value of the duplicated spots.

As shown in FIGS. 23A and 23B, the fluorescent intensity for the target nucleic acid sequence was increased depending on cycle numbers (0 cycle_RFU: 28,078±460.3; 5 cycles_RFU: 35,967±555.1; 10 cycles_RFU: 44,674±186.0; 20 cycles_RFU: 65,423±2.1; and 30 cycles_RFU: 65,426±2.8) in the presence of template. There was no change of the fluorescent intensity depending on cycle numbers in the absence of the template.

Example 7 Detection of Multiple Target Nucleic Acid Sequences by PTOCE Assay Comprising End-Point Detection at a Pre-Determined Temperature on Microarray

We further examined multiple target detection by PTOCE assay comprising end-point detection at a pre-determined temperature on microarray.

PTO cleavage was conducted in a separate vessel with PCR process and an aliquot of the resultant was taken into a microarray where CTO was immobilized. After extension reaction, the presence of the extended duplex was detected by end-point detection at a pre-determined temperature.

Taq DNA polymerase having 5′ nuclease activity was used for the extension of upstream primer and downstream primer, the cleavage of PTO and the extension of PTO fragment.

The extended duplex formed during the assay was designed to have a single label. The single label in the extended duplex was provided by PTO labeled with Quasar570 as a fluorescent reporter molecule at the 5′-end of the PTO. PTO and CTO are blocked with a carbon spacer at their 3′-ends.

The CTO has poly(T)₅ as a linker arm and was immobilized on a glass slide by using an amino group (AminnoC7) at its 5′-end. A marker probe having a fluorescent reporter molecule (Quasar570) at its 5′-end was immobilized on the glass slide by using an amino group at its 3′-end.

A fluorescent intensity on the glass slide was measured at a pre-determined temperature. The detection temperature was determined to the extent that the extended duplex maintains a double-stranded form and the temperature is higher than the T_(m) value of a hybrid between uncleaved PTO and CTO. Genomic DNAs of Staphylococcus aureus (SA) and Neisseria gonorrhoeae (NG) were used.

The sequences of upstream primer, downstream primer, PTO, CTO and marker used in this Example are:

NG-F (SEQ ID NO: 10) 5′-TACGCCTGCTACTTTCACGCT-3′ NG-R (SEQ ID NO: 2) 5′-CAATGGATCGGTATCACTCGC-3′ NG-PTO-5 (SEQ ID NO: 17) 5′-[Quasar570]ACGACGGCTTGGCTTTACTGCCCCTCATTGGCGT GTTTCG[C3 spacer]-3′ NG-CTO-S1 (SEQ ID NO: 18) 5′-[AminoC7]TTTTTCCTCCTCCTCCTCCTCCTCCTCCAGTAAAGC CAAGCCGTCGT[C3 Spacer]-3′ SA-F (SEQ ID NO: 13) 5′-TGTTAGAATTTGAACAAGGATTTAATC-3′ SA-R2 (SEQ ID NO: 22) 5′-TTAGCTCCTGCTCCTAAACCA-3′ SA-PTO-2 (SEQ ID NO: 23) 5′-[Quasar570]AATCCGACCACGCTATGCTCATTCCGTGGTCAAT CATTCGGTTTACG[C3 spacer]-3′ SA_CTO-S1 (SEQ ID NO: 24) 5′-[AminoC7]TTTTTCTTCTTCTTCTTCTTCTTCTTCTTCCCCCAG CATAGCGTGGTCGGATT[C3 Spacer]-3′ Marker (SEQ ID NO: 19) 5′-[Quasar570]ATATATATAT[AminoC7]-3′ (Underlined letters indicate the 5′-tagging  portion of PTO)

Slide preparation was conducted as the same protocol used in Example 5.

The cleavage reaction was conducted in the final volume of 50 μl containing each 100 pg genomic DNA of SA and/or NG, each 10 pmole of downstream primer (SEQ ID NOs: 10 and/or 13), each 10 pmole of upstream primer (SEQ ID NOs: 2 and/or 22), each 1 pmole of PTO (SEQ ID NOs: 17 and/or 23), and 25 μl of 2× Master Mix containing 2.5 mM MgCl₂, 200 μM of dNTPs, and 4 units of H-Taq DNA polymerase (Solgent, Korea); the tube containing the reaction mixture was placed in the real-time thermocycler (CFX96, Bio-Rad); the reaction mixture was denatured for 15 min at 95° C. and subjected to 60 cycles of 30 sec at 95° C., 60 sec at 63° C. The 30 μl of the resulting mixture was applied to a chamber assembled on the surface of NSB glass slide on which the CTOs (SEQ ID NOs: 18 and 24) were cross-linked. The slide was placed on in situ block in a thermocycler (GenePro B4I, China). The extension reaction was allowed for 20 min at 55° C. Then the slides were washed in distilled water at 64° C. for 1 min. The image acquisition was carried out after each washing by the use of Confocal Laser Scanner, Axon GenePix4100A (Molecular Device, US) with scanning at 10 μm pixel resolution. The fluorescence intensity was analyzed by the use of quantitative microarray analysis software, GenePix pro6.0 software (Molecular Device, US). The fluorescence intensity was expressed as spot-medians after local background subtractions. Each spot was duplicated for the test of reproducibility. The fluorescence intensity indicates the average value of the duplicated spots.

As shown in FIG. 24, the target signal for SA (RFU: 65,192±198.7) was detected in the presence of SA template. The target signal for NG (RFU: 65,332±1.4) was detected in the presence of NG template. Both target signals for SA (RFU: 65,302±0.7) and NG (RFU 65,302±0.7) were detected in the presence of both templates.

Example 8 Detection of a Single Nucleotide Variation of a Target Nucleic Acid Sequence Using Probing and Tagging Oligonucleotide Cleavage & Extension (PTOCE) Assay

We examined whether PTOCE assay with PTO-NV (PTO for Nucleotide Variation) assay can discriminate a single nucleotide variation of a target nucleic acid sequence.

Cleavage of PTO-NV and extension of PTO-NV fragment were accompanied with the amplification of the target nucleic acid by PCR process and the presence of the extended duplex was detected by post-PCR melting analysis (Melting analysis). Upstream primer is involved in the PTO-NV cleavage by an enzyme having a 5′ nuclease activity and also involved in amplification of the target acid sequence with downstream primer by PCR process. Taq DNA polymerase having a 5′ nuclease activity was used for the extension of upstream primer and downstream primer, the cleavage of PTO-NV and the extension of PTO-NV fragment.

PTO-NV and CTO are blocked with a carbon spacer at their 3′-ends. BRAF (V600E) wild-type (T) and mutant-type (A) human genomic DNAs were used as templates.

PTO-NV has no label and the single nucleotide variation discrimination site in the 5′-end part of 3′-targeting portion has a nucleotide complementary to mutant-type (A) template. Four different types of PTO-NVs were examined with variation of location of the single nucleotide variation discrimination site in the 5′-end part of 3′-targeting portion. The single nucleotide variation discrimination sites are located at the first nucleotide (SEQ ID NO: 27), at the second nucleotide (SEQ ID NO: 28), at the third nucleotide (SEQ ID NO: 29) and at the fourth nucleotide (SEQ ID NO: 30) from the 5′-end of 3′-targeting portion respectively.

CTO is labeled with a quencher molecule (BHQ-2) and a fluorescent reporter molecule (CAL Fluor Red 610) in its templating portion. The combination of the PTO-NV and CTO are as follows: (i) PTO-NV of SEQ ID NO: 27 and CTO of SEQ ID NO: 31, (ii) PTO-NV of SEQ ID NO: 28 and CTO of SEQ ID NO: 32 (iii) PTO-NV of SEQ ID NO: 29 and CTO of SEQ ID NO: 31, (iv) PTO-NV of SEQ ID NO: 30 and CTO of SEQ ID NO: 33.

The sequences of upstream primer, downstream primer, PTO-NVs and CTOs used in this Example are:

BRAF-F (SEQ ID NO: 25) 5′-CTTCATAATGCTTGCTCTGATAGGIIIIIGAGATCTACT-3′ BRAF-R (SEQ ID NO: 26) 5′-ATAGCCTCAATTCTTACCATCCAIIIIITGGATCCAGA-3′ BRAF-PTO-NV-1 (SEQ ID NO: 27) 5′-CACAAGGGTGGGT AGAAATCTCGATGGAGTGGGTCCCATCAG [C3 spacer]-3′ BRAF-PTO-NV-2 (SEQ ID NO: 28) 5′-CACAAGGGTGGGTGAGAAATCTCGATGGAGTGGGTCCCATCAG [C3 spacer]-3′ BRAF-PTO-NV-3 (SEQ ID NO: 29) 5′-CACAAGGGTGGGTAGAGAAATCTCGATGGAGTGGGTCCCATCAG [C3 spacer]-3′ BRAF-PTO-NV-4 (SEQ ID NO: 30) 5′-CACAAGGGTGGGTCAGAGAAATCTCGATGGAGTGGGTCCCATCAG [C3 spacer]-3′ BRAF-CTO-1 (SEQ ID NO: 31) 5′-[BHQ-2]TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT[T(CAL Fluor Red610)]CTCCGAGTTACCCACCCTTGTG[C3 spacer]-3′ BRAF-CTO-2 (SEQ ID NO: 32) 5′-[BHQ-2]TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT[T(CAL Fluor Red610)]GCTGAGTACACCCACCCTTGTG[C3 spacer]-3′ BRAF-CTO-3 (SEQ ID NO: 33) 5′-[BHQ-2]TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT[T(CAL Fluor Red610)]CGAGTAGAGACCCACCCTTGTG[C3 spacer]-3′ (I: Deoxyinosine) (Underlined letters indicate the 5′-tagging portion of PTO-NV) (Bold letter indicates the nucleotide variation discrimination site)

The reaction was conducted in the final volume of 20 μl containing 10 ng of BRAF (V600E) wild (T) or mutant (A) type human genomic DNA, 10 pmole of upstream primer (SEQ ID NO: 25), 10 pmole of downstream primer (SEQ ID NO: 26), 5 pmole of PTO-NV (SEQ ID NOs: 27, 28, 29 or 30) and 1 pmole of corresponding CTO (SEQ ID NOs: 31, 32, 31 or 33), and 10 μl of 2× Master Mix containing 2.5 mM MgCl₂, 200 μM of dNTPs and 1.6 units of H-Taq DNA polymerase (Solgent, Korea); the tube containing the reaction mixture was placed in the real-time thermocycler (CFX96, Bio-Rad); the reaction mixture was denatured for 15 min at 95° C. and subjected to 50 cycles of 30 sec at 95° C., 60 sec at 55° C., 30 sec at 72° C. After the reaction, melting curve was obtained by cooling the reaction mixture to 55° C., holding at 55° C. for 30 sec, and heating slowly at 55° C. to 85° C. The fluorescence was measured continuously during the temperature rise to monitor dissociation of double-stranded DNAs. Melting peak was derived from the melting curve data.

As shown in FIGS. 33A and B, the peaks corresponding to the expected Tm value of the extended duplexes were detected for all PTO-NVs (SEQ ID NOs: 27, 28, 29, and 30) in the presence of the mutant-type (A) template.

No peaks were detected for the PTO-NVs of SEQ ID NOs: 27, 28, and 29 in the presence of the wild-type (T) template. Even though PTO-NV of SEQ ID NO: 30 provided a peak having low height, it could be discriminated from the peak obtained in the presence of the wild-type (T) template. No peak was detected in the absence of the templates.

This results show that PTOCE assay using PTO-NV (i.e. VD-PTOCE assay) is capable of discriminating a single nucleotide variation.

Example 9 Detection of a Single Nucleotide Variation of a Target Nucleic Acid Sequence by PTOCE Assay Using PTO-NV Having Non-Base Paring Moiety

We further examined whether the use of non-base paring moiety in PTO-NV improves VD-PTOCE assay.

Taq DNA polymerase having a 5′ nuclease activity was used for the extension of upstream primer and downstream primer, the cleavage of PTO-NV and the extension of PTO-NV fragment.

The extended duplex was designed to have an interactive dual label. The interactive dual label in the extended duplex was provided by CTO labeled with a reporter molecule and a quencher molecule. PTO-NV and CTO are blocked with a carbon spacer at their 3′-ends.

BRAF (V600E) wild-type (T) and mutant-type (A) human genomic DNA were used as templates.

PTO-NV has no label and the single nucleotide variation discrimination site in the 5′-end part of 3′-targeting portion has a nucleotide complementary to mutant-type (A) template. The single nucleotide variation discrimination site is located at the fourth nucleotide in the 5′-end part of 3′-targeting portion.

Three types of PTO-NVs were prepared which have an artificial mismatch nucleotide as a non-base paring moiety at the second nucleotide (SEQ ID NO: 34), at the third nucleotide (SEQ ID NO: 35) and at the fourth nucleotide (SEQ ID NO: 36) in 3′ direction from the single nucleotide variation discrimination site respectively.

CTO is labeled with a quencher molecule (BHQ-2) and a fluorescent reporter molecule (CAL Fluor Red 610) in its templating portion (SEQ ID NO: 33).

A PTO-NV having no non-base paring moiety was used for the comparison (SEQ ID NO: 30).

The sequences of upstream primer, downstream primer, PTO-NVs and CTO used in this Example are:

BRAF-F (SEQ ID NO: 25) 5′-CTTCATAATGCTTGCTCTGATAGGIIIIIGAGATCTACT-3′ BRAF-R (SEQ ID NO: 26) 5′-ATAGCCTCAATTCTTACCATCCAIIIIITGGATCCAGA-3′ BRAF-PTO-NV-4 (SEQ ID NO: 30) 5′-CACAAGGGTGGGTCAGAGAAATCTCGATGGAGTGGGTCCCATCAG [C3 spacer]-3′ BRAF-PTO-NV-5 (SEQ ID NO: 34)

BRAF-PTO-NV-6 (SEQ ID NO: 35)

BRAF-PTO-NV-7 (SEQ ID NO: 36)

BRAF-CTO-3 (SEQ ID NO: 33) 5′-[BHQ-2]TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT[T(CAL Fluor Red610)]CGAGTAGAGACCCACCCTTGTG[C3 spacer]-3′ (I: Deoxyinosine) (Underlined letters indicate the 5′-tagging portion of PTO-NV) (Bold letter indicates the nucleotide variation discrimination site) (Boxed letter indicates the artificial mismatch nucleotide working as a non-base pairing moiety)

The reaction was conducted in the final volume of 20 μl containing 10 ng of BRAF (V600E) wild (T) or mutant (A) type human genomic DNA, 10 pmole of upstream primer (SEQ ID NO: 25), 10 pmole of downstream primer (SEQ ID NO: 26), 5 pmole of PTO-NV (SEQ ID NOs: 30, 34, 35 or 36), 1 pmole of CTO (SEQ ID NO: 33), and 10 μl of 2× Master Mix containing 2.5 mM MgCl₂, 200 μM of dNTPs and 1.6 units of H-Taq DNA polymerase (Solgent, Korea); the tube containing the reaction mixture was placed in the real-time thermocycler (CFX96, Bio-Rad); the reaction mixture was denatured for 15 min at 95° C. and subjected to 50 cycles of 30 sec at 95° C., 60 sec at 55° C., 30 sec at 72° C. After the reaction, melting curve was obtained by cooling the reaction mixture to 55° C., holding at 55° C. for 30 sec, and heating slowly at 55° C. to 85° C. The fluorescence was measured continuously during the temperature rise to monitor dissociation of double-stranded DNAs. Melting peak was derived from the melting curve data.

As shown in FIGS. 34A and B, the peaks corresponding to the expected Tm value of the extended duplexes were detected and the peak heights were similar for all PTO-NVs (SEQ ID NOs: 30, 34, 35 and 36) regardless of the presence and the location of the non-base paring moiety in the presence of the mutant-type (A) of template.

In the presence of the wild-type (T) of template, peaks were detected but the peak heights were decreased for the PTO-NVs (SEQ ID NOs: 34, 35 and 36) having non-base paring moieties in comparison with the peak height for the PTO-NV (SEQ ID NO: 30) having no non-base paring moiety. No peak was detected in the absence of the templates.

This results show that the use of non-base paring moiety improves the discrimination ability of PTO-NV.

Example 10 Evaluation of PTOCE Assay Using Upstream Oligonucleotide-Independent Cleavage of PTO

PTOCE assay was further evaluated for the detection of a target nucleic acid sequence without using upstream oligonucleotide in (i) real-time detection at a pre-determined temperature or (ii) melting analysis manner.

Taq DNA polymerase having a 5′ nuclease activity was used for the cleavage of PTO, and the extension of PTO fragment.

The extended duplex formed during the assay was designed to have an interactive dual label. PTO has no label. CTO has a quencher molecule (BHQ-1) and a fluorescent reporter molecule (FAM) in its templating portion. PTO and CTO are blocked with a carbon spacer at their 3′-ends. The synthetic oligonucleotide for Neisseria gonorrhoeae (NG) gene was used as a target template.

The sequences of synthetic template, PTO and CTO used in this Example are:

NG-T (SEQ ID NO: 1) 5′-AAATATGCGAAACACGCCAATGAGGGGCATGATGCTTTCTTTTGTT CTTGCTCGGCAGAGCGAGTGATACCGATCCATTGAAAAA-3′ NG-PTO-1 (SEQ ID NO: 3) 5′-ACGACGGCTTGGCTGCCCCTCATTGGCGTGTTTCG[C3 spacer]-3′ NG-CTO-1 (SEQ ID NO: 4) 5′-[BHQ-1]CCTCCTCCTCCTCCTCCTCC[T(FAM)]CCAGTAAAGCC AAGCCGTCGT[C3 Spacer]-3′ (Underlined letters indicate the 5′-tagging portion of PTO)

10-1. Real-Time Detection at a Pre-Determined Temperature

The reaction was conducted in the final volume of 20 μl containing 2 pmole of synthetic template (SEQ ID NO: 1) for NG gene, 5 pmole of PTO (SEQ ID NO: 3), 2 pmole of CTO (SEQ ID NO: 4) and 10 μl of 2× Master Mix containing 2.5 mM MgCl₂, 200 μM of dNTPs and 1.6 units of H-Taq DNA polymerase (Solgent, Korea); the tube containing the reaction mixture was placed in the real-time thermocycler (CFX96, Bio-Rad); the reaction mixture was denatured for 15 min at 95° C. and subjected to 30 cycles of 30 sec at 95° C., 60 sec at 60° C. Detection of the generated signal was performed at 60° C. of each cycle. The detection temperature was determined to the extent that the extended duplex maintains a double-stranded form.

As shown FIG. 35A, the fluorescent signal (Ct 1.15) was detected in the presence of the template. No signal was detected in the absence of the template.

10-2. Melting Analysis

After the reaction in Example 10-1, melting curve was obtained by cooling the reaction mixture to 55° C., holding at 55° C. for 30 sec, and heating slowly at 55° C. to 90° C. The fluorescence was measured continuously during the temperature rise to monitor dissociation of double-stranded DNAs. Melting peak was derived from the melting curve data.

As shown FIG. 35B, a peak at 76.0° C. corresponding to the expected Tm value of the extended duplex was detected in the presence of the template. No peak was detected in the absence of the template.

Having described a preferred embodiment of the present invention, it is to be understood that variants and modifications thereof falling within the spirit of the invention may become apparent to those skilled in this art, and the scope of this invention is to be determined by appended claims and their equivalents. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for detecting a nucleotide variation on a target nucleic acid sequence by a PTOEC (PTO Cleavage and Extension) assay, comprising: (a) hybridizing the target nucleic acid sequence with an upstream oligonucleotide and a PTO-NV (Probing and Tagging Oligonucleotide for Nucleotide Variation); wherein the upstream oligonucleotide comprises a hybridizing nucleotide sequence complementary to the target nucleic acid sequence; the PTO-NV comprises (i) a 3′-targeting portion comprising a hybridizing nucleotide sequence complementary to the target nucleic acid sequence, (ii) a 5′-tagging portion comprising a nucleotide sequence non-complementary to the target nucleic acid sequence, and (iii) a nucleotide variation discrimination site, comprising a complementary sequence to the nucleotide variation on the target nucleic acid, positioned on a 5′-end part of the 3′-targeting portion; wherein the 3′-targeting portion is hybridized with the target nucleic acid sequence and the 5′-tagging portion is not hybridized with the target nucleic acid sequence; the upstream oligonucleotide is located upstream of the PTO-NV; the upstream oligonucleotide or its extended strand induces cleavage of the PTO-NV by an enzyme having a 5′ nuclease activity; (b) contacting the resultant of the step (a) to an enzyme having a 5′ nuclease activity under conditions for cleavage of the PTO-NV; wherein when the PTO-NV is hybridized with the target nucleic acid sequence having the nucleotide variation complementary to the nucleotide variation discrimination site, and the 5′-end part of the 3′-targeting portion forms a double strand with the target nucleic acid sequence to induce cleavage from a first initial cleavage site, a first fragment is released; wherein when the PTO-NV is hybridized with a target nucleic acid sequence having a nucleotide variation non-complementary to the nucleotide variation discrimination site, and the 5′-end part of the 3′-targeting portion does not form a double strand with the target nucleic acid sequence to induce cleavage from a second initial cleavage site located downstream of the first initial cleavage site, a second fragment is released; wherein the second fragment comprises an additional 3′-end portion allowing the second fragment different from the first fragment; (c) hybridizing the fragment released from the PTO-NV with a CTO (Capturing and Templating Oligonucleotide); wherein the CTO comprises in a 3′ to 5′ direction (i) a capturing portion comprising a nucleotide sequence complementary to the 5′-tagging portion or a part of the 5′-tagging portion of the PTO-NV and (ii) a templating portion comprising a nucleotide sequence non-complementary to the 5′-tagging portion and the 3′-targeting portion of the PTO-NV; wherein the first fragment or the second fragment released from the PTO-NV is hybridized with the capturing portion of the CTO; (d) performing an extension reaction using the resultant of the step (c) and a template-dependent nucleic acid polymerase; wherein when the first fragment is hybridized with the capturing portion of the CTO, it is extended to form an extended strand comprising a extended sequence complementary to the templating portion of the CTO; wherein when the second fragment is hybridized with the capturing portion of the CTO, it is not extended; and (e) detecting the presence of the extended strand, whereby the presence of the extended strand indicates the presence of the nucleotide variation complementary to the nucleotide discrimination site of the PTO-NV.
 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the CTO has a sequence selected such that the CTO is not hybridized with the additional 3′-end portion of the second fragment to prevent the second fragment from extension when the second fragment is hybridized with the capturing portion of the CTO.
 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the nucleotide variation discrimination site is located within 10 nucleotides apart from the 5′-end of the 3′-targeting portion of the PTO-NV.
 4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the 5′-end part of the 3′-targeting portion of the PTO-NV comprises a non-base pairing moiety located within 1-5 nucleotides apart from the nucleotide variation discrimination site; wherein the non-base pairing moiety enhances differentiation between the first initial cleavage site and the second initial cleavage site.
 5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the non-base pairing moiety widens the distance between the first initial cleavage site and the second initial cleavage site.
 6. The method according to claim 4, wherein the non-base pairing moiety is (i) a nucleotide comprising an artificial mismatch base, a non-base pairing base modified to be incapable of base pairing or a universal base, (ii) a non-base pairing nucleotide modified to be incapable of base pairing, or (iii) a non-base pairing chemical compound.
 7. The method according to claim 4, wherein the non-base pairing moiety has 1-5 moieties.
 8. (canceled)
 9. The method according to claim 4, wherein the nucleotide variation discrimination site and the non-base pairing moiety of the PTO-NV are located within 10 nucleotides apart from the 5′-end of the 3′-targeting portion. 10-11. (canceled)
 12. The method according to claim 1, wherein the nucleotide variation is a substitution variation, a deletion variation or an insertion variation.
 13. The method according to claim 1, wherein the extended strand of the first fragment and the CTO form an extended duplex in the step (d); wherein the extended duplex has a T_(m) value adjustable by (i) a sequence and/or length of the first fragment, (ii) a sequence and/or length of the CTO or (iii) the sequence and/or length of the first fragment and the sequence and/or length of the CTO; wherein the extended duplex provides a target signal by (i) at least one label linked to the first fragment and/or CTO, (ii) a label incorporated into the extended duplex during the extension reaction, (iii) at least one label linked to the first fragment and/or CTO and a label incorporated into the extended duplex during the extension reaction or (iv) intercalating label; and wherein the presence of the extended strand is detected by measuring the target signal from the extended duplex in accordance with a melting analysis or a hybridization analysis for the extended duplex.
 14. The method according to claim 1, wherein the extended strand of the first fragment and the CTO form an extended duplex in the step (d); wherein the extended duplex has a T_(m) value adjustable by (i) a sequence and/or length of the first fragment, (ii) a sequence and/or length of the CTO or (iii) the sequence and/or length of the first fragment and the sequence and/or length of the CTO; wherein the extended duplex provides a target signal by (i) at least one label linked to the first fragment and/or CTO, (ii) a label incorporated into the extended duplex during the extension reaction, (iii) at least one label linked to the first fragment and/or CTO and a label incorporated into the extended duplex during the extension reaction or (iv) intercalating label; and wherein the presence of the extended strand is detected by measuring the target signal from the extended duplex at a pre-determined temperature sufficient to maintain a double strand of the extended duplex.
 15. The method according to claim 1, wherein the PTO-NV and/or CTO is blocked at its 3′-end to prohibit its extension.
 16. The method according to claim 1, wherein the upstream oligonucleotide is an upstream primer or an upstream probe. 17-18. (canceled)
 19. The method according to claim 1, wherein the method further comprises repeating all or some of the steps (a)-(e) with denaturation between repeating cycles.
 20. The method according to claim 1, wherein the method is performed to detect at least two types of nucleotides variations; wherein the upstream oligonucleotide comprises at least two types of oligonucleotides and the PTO-NV comprises at least two types of the PTO-NVs. 21-23. (canceled)
 24. The method according to claim 1, wherein the method is performed in the presence of a downstream primer.
 25. A method for detecting a nucleotide variation on a target nucleic acid sequence by a PTOCE (PTO Cleavage and Extension) assay, comprising: (a) hybridizing the target nucleic acid sequence with a PTO-NV (Probing and Tagging Oligonucleotide for Nucleotide Variation); wherein the PTO-NV comprises (i) a 3′-targeting portion comprising a hybridizing nucleotide sequence complementary to the target nucleic acid sequence, (ii) a 5′-tagging portion comprising a nucleotide sequence non-complementary to the target nucleic acid sequence, and (iii) a nucleotide variation discrimination site, comprising a complementary sequence to the nucleotide variation on the target nucleic acid, positioned on a 5′-end part of the 3′-targeting portion; wherein the 3′-targeting portion is hybridized with the target nucleic acid sequence and the 5′-tagging portion is not hybridized with the target nucleic acid sequence; (b) contacting the resultant of the step (a) to an enzyme having a 5′ nuclease activity under conditions for cleavage of the PTO-NV; wherein when the PTO-NV is hybridized with the target nucleic acid sequence having the nucleotide variation complementary to the nucleotide variation discrimination site, and the 5′-end part of the 3′-targeting portion forms a double strand with the target nucleic acid sequence to induce cleavage from a first initial cleavage site, a first fragment is released; wherein when the PTO-NV is hybridized with a target nucleic acid sequence having a nucleotide variation non-complementary to the nucleotide variation discrimination site, and the 5′-end part of the 3′-targeting portion does not form a double strand with the target nucleic acid sequence to induce cleavage from a second initial cleavage site located downstream of the first initial cleavage site, a second fragment is released; wherein the second fragment comprises an additional 3′-end portion allowing the second fragment different from the first fragment; (c) hybridizing the fragment released from the PTO-NV with a CTO (Capturing and Templating Oligonucleotide); wherein the CTO comprises in a 3′ to 5′ direction (i) a capturing portion comprising a nucleotide sequence complementary to the 5′-tagging portion or a part of the 5′-tagging portion of the PTO-NV and (ii) a templating portion comprising a nucleotide sequence non-complementary to the 5′-tagging portion and the 3′-targeting portion of the PTO-NV; wherein the first fragment or the second fragment released from the PTO-NV is hybridized with the capturing portion of the CTO; (d) performing an extension reaction using the resultant of the step (c) and a template-dependent nucleic acid polymerase; wherein when the first fragment is hybridized with the capturing portion of the CTO, it is extended to form an extended strand comprising a extended sequence complementary to the templating portion of the CTO; wherein when the second fragment is hybridized with the capturing portion of the CTO, it is not extended; and (e) detecting the presence of the extended strand, whereby the presence of the extended strand indicates the presence of the nucleotide variation complementary to the nucleotide discrimination site of the PTO-NV.
 26. A kit for detecting a nucleotide variation on a target nucleic acid sequence by a PTOCE (PTO Cleavage and Extension) assay, comprising: (a) a PTO-NV (Probing and Tagging Oligonucleotide for Nucleotide Variation); wherein the PTO-NV comprises (i) a 3′-targeting portion comprising a hybridizing nucleotide sequence complementary to the target nucleic acid sequence, (ii) a 5′-tagging portion comprising a nucleotide sequence non-complementary to the target nucleic acid sequence, and (iii) a nucleotide variation discrimination site comprising a complementary sequence to the nucleotide variation on the target nucleic acid, positioned on a 5′-end part of the 3′-targeting portion; wherein the 3′-targeting portion is hybridized with the target nucleic acid sequence and the 5′-tagging portion is not hybridized with the target nucleic acid sequence; (b) an upstream oligonucleotide; wherein the upstream oligonucleotide comprises a hybridizing nucleotide sequence complementary to the target nucleic acid sequence; wherein the upstream oligonucleotide is located upstream of the PTO-NV; the upstream oligonucleotide or its extended strand induces cleavage of the PTO-NV by an enzyme having a 5′ nuclease activity; and (c) a CTO (Capturing and Templating Oligonucleotide); wherein the CTO comprises in a 3′ to 5′ direction (i) a capturing portion comprising a nucleotide sequence complementary to the 5′-tagging portion or a part of the 5′-tagging portion of the PTO-NV and (ii) a templating portion comprising a nucleotide sequence non-complementary to the 5′-tagging portion and the 3′-targeting portion of the PTO-NV; wherein when the PTO-NV is hybridized with the target nucleic acid sequence having the nucleotide variation complementary to the variation discrimination site, and the 5′-end part of the 3′-targeting portion forms a double strand with the target nucleic acid sequence to induce cleavage from a first initial cleavage site, a first fragment is released; wherein when the PTO-NV is hybridized with a target nucleic acid sequence having a nucleotide variation non-complementary to the variation discrimination site, and the 5′-end part of the 3′-targeting portion does not form a double strand with the target nucleic acid sequence to induce cleavage from a second initial cleavage site located downstream of the first initial cleavage site, a second fragment is released; wherein the second fragment comprises an additional 3′-end portion permitting the second fragment different from the first fragment; wherein the first fragment or the second fragment released from the PTO-NV is hybridized with the capturing portion of the CTO.
 27. The kit according to claim 26, wherein the kit further comprises the enzyme having the 5′ nuclease activity, a template-dependent nucleic acid polymerase or their combination; wherein when the first fragment is hybridized with the capturing portion of the CTO, it is extended to form an extended strand comprising a extended sequence complementary to the templating portion of the CTO; wherein when the second fragment is hybridized with the capturing portion of the CTO, it is not extended;
 28. The kit according to claim 26, wherein the CTO has a sequence selected such that the CTO is not hybridized with the additional 3′-end portion of the second fragment to prevent the second fragment from extension when the second fragment is hybridized with the capturing portion of the CTO.
 29. The kit according to claim 26, wherein the nucleotide variation discrimination site is located within 10 nucleotides apart from the 5′-end of the 3′-targeting portion of the PTO-NV.
 30. The kit according to claim 26, wherein the 5′-end part of the 3′-targeting portion of the PTO-NV comprises a non-base pairing moiety located within 1-5 nucleotides apart from the nucleotide variation discrimination site; wherein the non-base pairing moiety enhances differentiation between the first initial cleavage site and the second initial cleavage site.
 31. The kit according to claim 30, wherein the non-base pairing moiety widens the distance between the first initial cleavage site and the second initial cleavage site.
 32. The kit according to claim 30, wherein the non-base pairing moiety is (i) a nucleotide comprising an artificial mismatch base, a non-base pairing base modified to be incapable of base pairing or a universal base, (ii) a non-base pairing nucleotide modified to be incapable of base pairing, or (iii) a non-base pairing chemical compound.
 33. The kit according to claim 30, wherein the non-base pairing moiety has 1-5 moieties.
 34. (canceled)
 35. The kit according to claim 30, wherein the nucleotide variation discrimination site and the non-base pairing moiety of the PTO-NV are located within 10 nucleotides apart from the 5′-end of the 3′-targeting portion. 36-37. (canceled)
 38. The kit according to claim 26, wherein the nucleotide variation a substitution variation, a deletion variation or an insertion variation.
 39. The kit according to claim 26, wherein the extended strand of the first fragment and the CTO form an extended duplex; wherein the extended duplex has a T_(m) value adjustable by (i) a sequence and/or length of the first fragment, (ii) a sequence and/or length of the CTO or (iii) the sequence and/or length of the first fragment and the sequence and/or length of the CTO; wherein the extended duplex provides a target signal by (i) at least one label linked to the first fragment and/or CTO, (ii) a label incorporated into the extended duplex during the extension reaction, (iii) at least one label linked to the first fragment and/or CTO and a label incorporated into the extended duplex during the extension reaction or (iv) intercalating label. 40-41. (canceled)
 42. The kit according to claim 26, wherein the kit is used to detect at least two types of nucleotides variations; wherein the upstream oligonucleotide comprises at least two types of oligonucleotides and the PTO-NV comprises at least two types of the PTO-NVs.
 43. (canceled)
 44. The kit according to claim 26, wherein the kit further comprise a downstream primer.
 45. A kit for detecting a nucleotide variation on a target nucleic acid sequence by a PTOCE (PTO Cleavage and Extension) assay, comprising: (a) a PTO-NV (Probing and Tagging Oligonucleotide for Nucleotide Variation); wherein the PTO-NV comprises (i) a 3′-targeting portion comprising a hybridizing nucleotide sequence complementary to the target nucleic acid sequence, (ii) a 5′-tagging portion comprising a nucleotide sequence non-complementary to the target nucleic acid sequence, and (iii) a nucleotide variation discrimination site comprising a complementary sequence to the nucleotide variation on the target nucleic acid, positioned on a 5′-end part of the 3′-targeting portion; wherein the 3′-targeting portion is hybridized with the target nucleic acid sequence and the 5′-tagging portion is not hybridized with the target nucleic acid sequence; (b) a CTO (Capturing and Templating Oligonucleotide); wherein the CTO comprises in a 3′ to 5′ direction (i) a capturing portion comprising a nucleotide sequence complementary to the 5′-tagging portion or a part of the 5′-tagging portion of the PTO-NV and (ii) a templating portion comprising a nucleotide sequence non-complementary to the 5′-tagging portion and the 3′-targeting portion of the PTO-NV; wherein when the PTO-NV is hybridized with the target nucleic acid sequence having the nucleotide variation complementary to the variation discrimination site, and the 5′-end part of the 3′-targeting portion forms a double strand with the target nucleic acid sequence to induce cleavage from a first initial cleavage site, a first fragment is released; wherein when the PTO-NV is hybridized with a target nucleic acid sequence having a nucleotide variation non-complementary to the variation discrimination site, and the 5′-end part of the 3′-targeting portion does not form a double strand with the target nucleic acid sequence to induce cleavage from a second initial cleavage site located downstream of the first initial cleavage site, a second fragment is released; wherein the second fragment comprises an additional 3′-end portion permitting the second fragment different from the first fragment; wherein the first fragment or the second fragment released from the PTO-NV is hybridized with the capturing portion of the CTO. 